


Sonic Chronicles: Awakened

by SpiderDom321



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Awakened, Gen, Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Forces
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-11-18 19:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18125306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderDom321/pseuds/SpiderDom321
Summary: Chaos strikes thanks to one's foolish actions, leading to the awakening of Synergy: A lost Gizoid who's bent on conquering the world. Imperialism is on his mind and power is in his hands. Not wanting his home to be ruled by a dictatorship, Sonic gathers old and new allies to stop their new foe, but Dr. Eggman has his own agendas. {Co-written by Infinite's Ruby on FF.Net} (IDW Comics AU)





	1. The Underground Tomb

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone, my name is SpiderDom321 and welcome to my first FanFiction on this website. I am known as The Sensational SpiderDom321 on FanFiction.Net and I wanted to come here to show everyone my work in hopes of reading works of others soon. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Awakened, a fan-project based on the IDW Comics and Sonic Forces. Things from the comic series are implemented into this story as well as elements from the games. I hope you all enjoy! ;)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Phantom Ruby War, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower discover that Dr. Eggman is up to his old tricks again. While chasing him through the Sylvania Castle Zone, they discover something peculiar about the zone.

**The Underground Tomb**

The sun rose high above the blue skies of one of Mobius' most peaceful and beautiful locations; the Sylvania Castle Zone. As the name implies, the place is an ancient, booby-trapped castle which has been flooded by the vast blue waters over the years. The Zone combines the aspects of an old temple with a wide-open forest and crystal-clear waters, almost bearing strong similarities to Aquatic Ruin Zone and Marble Garden Zone.

But despite looking so beautiful, traps for any intruders swarmed the place from inside and out.

The cold autumn wind blew across the grass, brushing against the various roses and tulips that grew from the fertile soil below. A few animals and other plants have become adjusted to its climates and traps over time, which is why most plants grow away from the temples and the animals set up their habitats in the forest.

Many large temples stood out from every corner of the forest, shadowing parts of the sun's light, creating many shady spots for animals to take peaceful naps.

A family of rabbits paced over to the shadowy spot and prepared to take the longest nap they've ever taken. The mother and the father showered their two children with tender kisses, as they closed their eyes and wished each other a good nap.

Unfortunately for them, their slumber was rudely interrupted by the sound of a truck horn.

Honk. Honk. Honk. The sound of the horn grew louder and louder, blasting through the eardrums of the rabbits' children.

Suddenly, a large truck that was shaped like the Egg Mobile; the Egg Monster, blasted through the trees and slammed down on the ground, the tires shot out grass that ricocheted off the walls of the temple. The Egg Monster then drove away as fast as it could, leaving the rabbits petrified.

The truck's driver, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik turned the steering wheel to the left, making a sharp turn that almost knocked his lackeys, Orbot and Cubot, over the side.

The latter crashed into the former.

"Dr. Eggman!" the yellow cube-shaped drone pleaded. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Slow down, please! I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Nonsense!" Dr. Eggman snarled. He made a rough right turn. "You're robots! You can't feel illness!"

"Hey!" Orbot shouted in anger.

"He's right," Cubot moaned.

"Will the both of you shut up!" their boss ordered with a growl. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

Both robots obeyed their master before they looked over their shoulders.

Behind the Egg Monster was a large wagon strapped to the back of the vehicle; a red wagon that sat a large silver and gold canister that contained many animals. Dr. Eggman was planning to use these animals as a fuel source for his Badnik Horde, something that a certain someone couldn't allow. That, someone, was the most innocent girl in all of Mobius; Cream the Rabbit and her good companion, Cheese.

The two of them were strapped to the back of the canister by a metal chain. The two struggled to get out, but they were afraid of the speeding vehicle mistiming their landing, either resulting in broken bones or worse-case scenario; death.

The cream-colored rabbit turned to her blue and yellow companion, she noticed the worried look in his eyes.

"Hang on, Cheese!" she tried to tell him gently, but because of how rough Dr. Eggman was treating the road, she felt her voice break between her words. "We'll be out of here soon!"

"Chao, Chao!" Cheese replied. He still shook because of how hard the Egg Monster ran over the grass, causing many flowers to die underneath the truck's weight.

Just as Dr. Eggman made another left, he heard another horn deafen his ears. He screamed in annoyance and rubbed the back of his ears. Orbot and Cubot looked behind them and screamed, reaching the highest pitch their voices could go.

"Will you two stop screaming!?" Dr. Eggman shouted. "My ears already hurt from the-"

The evil doctor cut himself off because of something he'd hoped he would never see. "Oh, no," he said. "It's _them!_ "

Out of the blue with a dark blue race car called the Speed Star, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, and Amy Rose shot out of the forest and chased after Dr. Eggman. The three of them were rescuing Cream, Cheese, and the animals enslaved by Eggman.

The two-tailed kitsune was driving the car, the pink hammer-wielder was sitting in the front row seat, and the fastest thing alive was in the back of the car, standing up on his two feet. He got down into a squatting position and grabbed onto the red leather chairs, feeling the heavy wind blow slap against his quills thanks to the increase in the Speed Star's acceleration.

It didn't take long for the three Freedom Fighters to catch up to their foe.

"Pull over, Eggman!" Sonic shouted. "You're getting a ticket!"

"A ticket?" Dr. Eggman asked. "For _what!?_ "

"For going faster than me!"

After hearing that comment come from her crush, Amy slapped Sonic's leg. Sonic rubbed his leg and shrugged his shoulders.

"What? I'm the one who should be going ridiculously fast!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Eggman, either let Cream go, or I'll bash your face in!"

"You have to catch up to me first, Pinkie!"

The mad doctor slammed his gas pedal and drove down the road, the tires shot more globs of dirt into the air. A moment later, he pressed a button on his control console and watched as two large missile cannons popped out the sides of his monster truck.

The cannons faced the other direction and aimed at the Speed Star.

" _Fire!_ "

The missiles shot out faster than a speeding bullet, smoke and fire spewed from the exhaust pipes on the back of them. A large Eggman logo was printed on the side of each missile.

The two-tailed fox steered the wheel to the left and avoided the missiles, he soon turned it to the right. He zig-zagged his way out of the rainfall of explosions. Sonic and Amy grabbed onto the side of the Speed Star, hoping that they don't fall off until they made it out of the storm.

They eventually got back to where they were before; behind Dr. Eggman.

"Keep it steady, Tails," Sonic gave his best friend a thumbs up. "I'm going in!"

"Be careful, Sonic!" Tails said.

"When am I never?"

Tails and Amy shared a sarcastic glance with each other, they knew Sonic is not one to have the word, careful in his dictionary. The blue hedgehog jumped off the Speed Star and landed on the back of the wagon, right in front of Cream and Cheese. The two of them were happy to see their blue hero.

"Mr. Sonic!" Cream shouted politely.

"Just Sonic will do. Mr. Sonic's my father."

Cream giggled at the hedgehog's joke, as she watched him jump on top of the silver canister. He was looking for a way to get her free.

Up. Down. Left. Right. He searched for any kind of lock he could pick, but there wasn't one in sight. Luckily, he was a Mobian that had sharp spines, so he had a different idea.

"Hold still, Cream!"

"Okay!"

Sonic revved up his classic move; the Spin Dash and penetrated through the chains like a hot knife through butter. The rabbit and her companion were set free. They landed in Sonic's arms.

"Chao, Chao!" Cheese cried with joy, hugging Sonic's face.

"Thank you, Mr. Sonic!" said Cream. She hugged him too.

"Just doing what I do best," the hedgehog winked. He looked at Amy, who was standing on top of her seat on her own two feet. "Amy, catch!"

Sonic tossed Cream and Cheese up in the sky and watched them fly through the air. The both of them landed in Amy's arms. The pink hedgehog sat them down into the back seat and strapped on their seatbelts.

"You okay, Cream?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Ms. Rose!"

"Chao, Chao!"

Amy wiped a streak of sweat off her forehead. She sat down in her chair. "Let's finish this, Tails!"

"I couldn't agree more, Amy!" Tails saluted her. He slammed on his gas pedal.

Dr. Eggman turned over his shoulder and saw that Sonic was giving his friends two thumbs up. He growled at the sight of his enemy and decided to make this fight personal. He got up from his chair, grabbed a screwdriver, and started marching towards the back.

"Orbot, Cubot, take the wheel!"

"W-what!?" Orbot blanched in fear. "I-I can't drive!"

"I can!" Cubot slammed his behind on the gas pedal, gripping the wheel with the both of his hands. "I've always wanted to drive!"

After the yellow robot slammed the pedal, the Egg Monster pushed farther up the road, making Sonic and Dr. Eggman fall over.

The former sprung himself up while Dr. Eggman rolled over, gripping onto the railing of the wagon. Pushing himself up, he stormed over to Sonic.

"Now, then," Sonic wiped his hands off, walking to the animal cage. "It's time to-whoa!"

Dr. Eggman swatted his makeshift weapon at Sonic, he missed. Sonic dodged out of the way and avoided another attack, landing on the railing. Dr. Eggman swatted at him again, but due to how fast he was, Sonic evaded his attack.

Landing behind Eggman, Sonic turned over his shoulder and chuckled. "What's wrong, Egghead? No boss battle for me to fight? I know you have another version of the Egg Nega Wisp hiding somewhere!"

"I decided to make this one personal, Sonic!" Dr. Eggman pulled his weapon-holding arm back. He fired it down on Sonic. "Today, you will meet your doom!"

"Said every bad guy ever!" Sonic formed his arms into the shape of an X, blocking Eggman's attack.

He then kicked the fat scientist in the shin and punched him in the gut. Dr. Eggman fell backward against the wagon's side. Just as the hero lunged at his villain, the latter kicked the former in the chest. Sonic's back crashed into the canister's wall and landed on his chest.

The chubby madman picked Sonic up by his quills and swatted at him again, but Sonic blocked the screwdriver and kicked Eggman in the face, releasing himself from his clutches.

Dr. Eggman swatted at Sonic again and again, but the blue blur dodged every attack, except for a solid kick to the face. He landed on the ground and felt the weight of Dr. Eggman's left foot crush his chest. It felt as if a thousand rocks were piled on top of him.

"Any last words, Sonic!?" Dr. Eggman pulled his arm back again, his screwdriver was anxious to hit Sonic's face.

"Yeah... what time is it?"

"I don't know. What?"

Sonic smirked for a moment of silence. "Hammer time!"

"What? That doesn't make any sense- _argh!_ "

A pink Spinball homing attacked Eggman and sent him flying into the main part of the Egg Monster. He saw that Cubot was still driving.

The identity of the pink ball was revealed to be Amy Rose, holding her Piko Piko Hammer in hand. She smiled at her true love and shot him a wink.

"Thanks, Ames,"

"You're welcome. You owe me a date for that."

"Why do I owe you a date for not getting killed by Eggman?"

"Oh, come on, Sonic! It's the least you can do for me."

"Amy... you're a real piece of work."

Amy rolled her eyes and chuckled at Sonic's joke. She fired back. "So are you!"

"If you guys are done flirting with each other, can we save the animals?" Tails shouted from behind them, he was still driving.

Sonic and Amy rolled their emerald green eyes at his comment and proceeded to walk up to Eggman, who had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Move over, idiot!" Dr. Eggman pushed Cubot out of the way and took control of his vehicle. He saw a rainbow-colored button in the middle of the control console, it had a black-colored diagram of a car boosting down the road. "Time for a change of pace!"

As soon as the doctor slammed his pointer finger onto the button, the car suddenly went faster than it ever did before. Dr. Eggman might say that he was going so fast, he could outrun both Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog.

When the Egg Monster was increasing in speed, Amy's fur lung back, she felt the find push against her, which eventually knocked her down. She was about to go flying off the wagon until Sonic wrapped his fingers around her wrist, stamping his other hand around the railing.

The Egg Monster was going so fast, Tails had to step his foot all the way down on the gas pedal. But he wasn't fast enough to catch up to his teammates.

"Sonic, don't let go!"

"W-why o-o-on M-mobius would I-I l-let go!" Sonic's scream shook due to the high velocity he was going at. He should be used to this type of speed, but he would rather be going fast by his own means than through Eggman's.

Tails suddenly reached behind him and pulled out his red walkie-talkie, he pressed the button and spoke into it.

"Mighty, Ray! This is Tails! Come in, guys, over!" 

* * *

On the other side of the Sylvania Castle Zone, two Mobians were sitting in the grassy fields, feeling the autumn wind stroke against their skin. The grass brushed beside their feet and the sun shined down upon them, giving whoever saw a glimpse of them a sight of their true identities.

They were known as Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying-Squirrel.

The former was sitting peacefully in the grass, meditating to keep himself from thinking too much about violence while his best friend, Ray, was pacing back and forth. He had butterflies in his stomach because of the mission he was about to go on. He remembered Sonic calling him and Mighty and asking them for their help not too long ago.

Not having seen Sonic since their trip to Eggman Island, the dynamic duo agreed to help their best friend, but they didn't expect to be sitting on the sideline for now.

Mighty was glad he got a chance to relax and forest bath in the zone, mainly because he was one that detested violence unless if it was necessary. Ray, on the other hand, was in the mood for action, but he was also nervous for action. Why is that the case?

Hearing his best friend moan in shyness, Mighty lifted an eye up and asked his best friend this question: "Ray, are you okay?"

"H-huh?" Ray paused. His feet became static. "S-sorry, Mighty. I'm j-just really n-nervous."

"Nervous?" Mighty raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"W-what if w-we miss the s-signal!? What if Dr. E-Eggman g-gets away!? All those poor animals... they're going to get robotized!"

"Ray, Ray, Ray... relax... we're not going to miss the signal. Sonic's best friend, Tails, said that he's going to call us when Eggman shows up to this spot."

"R-right... t-thank you, Mighty... by the way, are you o-okay with doing this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you okay with using v-violence?"

Mighty nodded his head and smiled at his best friend. The flying-squirrel knew the armadillo was a pacifist and the latter knew the former highly respected that. Mighty got up from the ground and wrapped his arm around his best friend.

"Ray, listen to me... As much as I hate violence, I am willing to use it to help others. Remember that time we were on Eggman Island? I had to use every ounce of my strength to help you and Sonic."

"R-Right, I remember t-that."

"I appreciate your concern for me, Ray, but I'm comfortable with using violence against Eggman. But I'll be all right if you're up to it."

Ray stood for a moment of silence before he smiled. He tightened his blue scarf and placed down his blue goggles. "Y-yes! L-let's d-do it t-to it!"

Mighty adjusted his black and brown gloves and shoes before he gave his best friend a thumbs up.

Just then, the two got what they've been asking for; the signal.

Ray took out a red walkie-talkie and pressed the button. "H-hello?"

_"Mighty, Ray, this is Tails! Do you copy, over?"_

"W-we read you loud and c-clear, o-over!"

_"Dr. Eggman's coming over to you, but be careful, he's going fast!"_

"How fast?" Mighty asked. 

The armadillo got his answer when he heard Sonic, Amy, Orbot, and Cubot screaming and shouting. Dr. Eggman's vehicle pushed by the fields, leaving a long streak of dirt and tire tracks wherever the truck went.

Mighty and Ray looked at each other before the former replied back to the fox: "Say no more, Tails," he said. "We're on it!"

The duo raced over the hills and tried their best to catch up to Dr. Eggman. They were running as fast as Sonic, but even that level of speed couldn't get them to catch up to the Egg Monster.

"T-this isn't w-working, Mighty!" Ray squealed.

"We're gonna have to try a different approach!" Mighty grinned. "Ray, toss me above that thing as hard as you can!"

Ray obeyed his friend's command and swung his tail backward. He wrapped it around Mighty's black and brown glove. Extending his yellow wings, Ray took to the skies like an airplane with Mighty as his only passenger.

Within a few seconds, Ray spun around in a complete three-hundred-sixty and shot Mighty across the blue skies above, the clouds poked the armadillo's nose. Mighty rolled into a ball used his shell to aim himself downward.

He descended through the clouds and prepared to divebomb the Egg Mobile.

As Orbot and Cubot did their best to hang onto their seats, Cubot felt a large shadow loom over his body. He looked up and saw a red spinball aiming towards him.

"Boss!" Cubot pointed to the sky.

"Silence!" Dr. Eggman replied with a snarl. "Can't you see I'm... why is there a shadow over me?"

He looked up and saw the same thing Cubot saw. He gulped. "Mommy." 

Sonic and Amy homing attacked the animal canister and pushed it off of the wagon. They, themselves, jumped off as well and started flying in the air. Mighty slam-dunked himself smack in the middle of Eggman's vehicle, which resulted in not only an explosion, but Dr. Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot also shot all the way across the grassy fields.

The animal cage landed on the ground with a loud clang. Sonic landed on top of the yellow button, Amy landed right into his arms. The mechanism was pushed down, and all of the animals were set free.

Rabbits. Pigs. Birds. Every animal species Eggman kidnapped jumped out of their prison and ran as far as they could.

Tails pulled over the Speed Star and jumped out of the front seat. He, Cream, and Cheese joined Ray in flying over to Sonic and Amy.

Dr. Eggman and his two lackeys skyrocketed across the azure skies above, but before they could land on the ground and become pancakes, the mad doctor pressed the golden square in the top right corner of his jacket. He activated a jetpack that sprung out of the back of his jacket.

Grabbing Orbot and Cubot by their hands, he flew all the way across Sylvania Castle Zone until he saw a possible way of escape; there was a large doorway in the middle of one of the zone's temples. Dr. Eggman turned over his shoulder and growled at Sonic.

He flew right through the door.

"Eggman!" Sonic shouted. He dropped Amy and jumped off of the canister.

"Hey!" Amy waved her fist and shouted.

Sonic ran past Mighty, which caused him to spin around in a circle. The armadillo fell down and watched as Sonic jumped over a hill and ran for the door. He also watched as Amy Rose ran past him, shaking her fist around.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, you come back here!"

The blue blur ran inside the temple, and homing attacked Dr. Eggman, causing him to drop Orbot and Cubot. Before Amy can enter as well, the door rained down.

"Look out, Amy!" Mighty grabbed Amy and pulled her out of the way. Orbot and Cubot evaded the door as well and landed beside the pink hedgehog.

The door slammed shut, locking everyone out.

Tails, Cream, Cheese, and Ray rushed over to the temple door and looked up at it. It was a large brown and golden door that had ancient markings on it; markings of old civilizations building their landmarks.

Tails and Amy looked for a way inside, but they couldn't find anything.

Cream and Cheese flew above to see if there was a hidden door to the inside. There wasn't.

Mighty and Ray looked around as well, but they also had no success.

The same with Orbot and Cubot.

"There's no other way in!" Tails worried. He slammed on the door, which caused him to hurt his hands. "Sonic's trapped!"

"Not for long!" Mighty pulled his fist back and took a heavy punch at the door, a crack was heard from the inside of his wrist. " _Argh!_ " He collapsed on the ground and shook his wrist.

"M-Mighty!, are y-you o-okay?" Ray asked in worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mighty got back up and shook his wrist. "Never had _that_ happen to me before. I know I hate violence, but I _know_ I can hit hard."

Tails took out his Miles Electric and scanned the door. A couple pieces of code popped up on his screen. They were all red. "Odd... nothing's coming up in my Miles Electric. I'm not sure what type of stone makes up this door."

"Well, one thing's for certain, it's strong enough to take my punch."

"Oh, no!" Cream startled. "Mr. Sonic's trapped!"

"So is Dr. Eggman!" Cubot cupped his hands over his mouth. He and Orbot were scared at first before they randomly took out party hats and slapped them on top of their heads. They also took out party horns and began singing and dancing with joy.

"We're free! Free I tell you!" Cubot danced with the uttermost glee in his tone. "I can finally buy a houseboat and live on it! Even though it's a boat!"

"And I can finally finish my memoirs!" Orbot smiled. "I've been told I'm a natural recontour."

"And I've been told I'm a neutral raccoon!"

Orbot and Cubot danced happily away from the temple, leaving the flying squirrel to wallow in his own fear. He began to shiver as if he was cold, but thankfully, Amy was there to warm him up.

"W-what are we g-gonna d-do!?" Ray worried. "S-Sonic's trapped in there!"

"Don't worry, Ray," Amy smiled and comforted the small squirrel. "I know Sonic well, he'll be fine. We're gonna get him out, I promise." _Sonic... please be okay in there._

* * *

Darkness ran from the bottom to the top of the mysterious underground temple. The only sources of light came from bright orange torches that were hooked up to chains from the ceiling and were also welded to the walls. The temple was covered in many gold, silver, and brown colors that made every sculpture of ancient civilizations stand out.

Unfortunately, Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman were busy fighting each other to sit down and appreciate all the hard work that went into the temple. The former leaped up and homing attacked the latter's jetpack again, causing him to stumble around in the air.

"Will you stop doing that!" Dr. Eggman demanded. He shook his fist in the air. "It's getting on my nerves!"

"You're not gonna lose me, Egghead!" Sonic jumped into Eggman's jetpack again.

" _Eggman!_ You know my name is _Dr. Eggman!_ You do that on purpose!"

"Do what, Egghead?"

The fat egg-shaped man reached into his pocket and took out two laser guns; the same models that Egg Robos use. He twirled them around and aimed them at Sonic, shooting yellow orbs of energy at his enemy.

"Die, you pesticide!"

Sonic jumped over the orbs and ran across the walls, reaching up to the ceiling. He jumped off the top of the wall and tackled Dr. Eggman. The two of them began to fight mid-air, crashing into pieces of statues, bumping against the ceiling from time to time, and they also smacked each other’s faces against the stone statues.

The blue blur punched the mad doctor a few times before Dr. Eggman slapped Sonic across the face. He grabbed the hedgehog's quills and yanked them, but Sonic grabbed Eggman's mustache and pulled it.

"Let go, hedgehog!"

"You let go!"

"I told you first!"

"Well, I thought about it before you said it!"

"Liar!"

Sonic and Dr. Eggman fought each other until the blue hedgehog gasped. "Uh, Eggman," he said.

"What do you want!?" Dr. Eggman shouted.

"Look!"

Dr. Eggman looked ahead and gasped as well because a giant brown and gold pillar was waiting for them to crash into it. The two of them screamed before they turned to the left, coming face to face with another structure.

"Let me drive!" Sonic climbed on Eggman's shoulders and grabbed his mustache. He turned Eggman's head left and protected himself from getting smacked by a pillar.

He continued to steer himself and Eggman down the room, filled with nothing but large pillars and torches.

"Let go of my mustache, Sonic!"

"No way, I'm driving!"

"I'm not a car! Get off me!"

Dr. Eggman slapped Sonic across the face and turned over on his stomach, flying across the temple as if he was a superman.

Luckily, Sonic was able to grab onto Eggman's foot, saving himself from falling onto the stone-cold ground.

He swung back and forth, trying to climb Dr. Eggman's back, but his tan-colored arms were too short to reach the top. Dr. Eggman rocked his foot up and down, hoping to shake his arch-nemesis off him.

"Let go of my foot!"

"Buzz off, Egghead!" Sonic suddenly gasped. "Look out!... Again!"

Dr. Eggman jerked his head to the front, finding himself introduced to another pillar in his line of sight. He and Sonic gasped before they turned to the right, but their reaction was delayed by a second. Because of this, the left wing of the jetpack broke off, causing Sonic and Dr. Eggman to plummet to the ground.

Bash. Smash. Crash. Both the hero and the villain tumbled across the floor on their sides, feeling the pain of rocks poke them from their stomachs to their waists. The two eventually bounced in the air due to how fast they were tumbling down the hallway.

Sonic finally landed on his back while Dr. Eggman landed on his chest.

The fight between them finally ended. The two of them got their chance to rest.

Breathing heavily and panting like a dog, Dr. Eggman got up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. He took his jacket and rubbed the pebbles off.

Sonic planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself upward. Brushing off his arms and legs, he walked over to Dr. Eggman.

"Well, that was quite a wild ride."

"Shut up!" Dr. Eggman replied with an angry snarl. "Just _shut up,_ you _idiot!_ "

"Eggy, this is no time to panic!"

"This is the _perfect time to panic!_ I'm _trapped_ , the Egg Monster is destroyed, we have little to no way of escape and it's all _your_ fault!"

"What!? _My_ fault! If you hadn't kidnapped Cream, Cheese, and those animals in the first place-!"

" _Grr!_ Yeah, well, if _you_ hadn't shown up with your stupid little Freedom Fighter buddies, _none of this would have happened!_ "

"Oh, well, excuse me for doing what I do best; kicking you around and watching you shake your fist, shouting _'I hate that meddling hedgehog!'_ That's you, Egghead! That's what you sound like! A little girl when she doesn't get her red glitter slippers!"

Dr. Eggman shook his hands in a motion that looked like he was about to strangle Sonic. He waved his hands in the air and paced back and forth, growling and snarling as if he was a hungry predator out of prey.

He then stormed over to the pillar he crashed into and punched it, which only hurt himself than the pole. He then kicked the pillar and met the same result. Stumbling back in pain, Dr. Eggman tripped and fell on his rear end, picking up a pebble and chucking it across the hallway.

Crack. It landed on the ground.

Dr. Eggman huffed and puffed until he looked over at Sonic, who was sitting on his side, leaning his head on his hand.

"Hey, Mr. Grumpy Stache," he smiled, mocking his arch-nemesis.

Dr. Eggman kept puffing, he turned his head to the side.

Sonic then spoke in his normal voice. "You wanna know how to get out of here?" he asked.

"How am I gonna get out of here?"

"Let me tell you something, as much as I enjoy going fast, I like to slow down once in a while and take a good look at the environment I'm exploring."

"What's your point exactly?"

"If we want to escape, we gotta look around. See if there are any hidden clues around here."

"That... is a _stupid_ idea!" Dr. Eggman brushed his jacket and got up from his pity chair; the rocks. "Look at this place! It's _huge!_ You're not going to find _'clues'_ or _'exits'_ around here! We're stuck here! I'm not going with your idea! If anything, it'll get us killed!"

"All right, suit yourself." Sonic jumped on his feet and walked around the tomb's hallway, looking for any clues, hidden passages, and/or exits that will lead them to freedom.

After a few seconds of silence, Dr. Eggman sat back down and folded his arms, pouting. His fingers slowly crawled over his eyes, as he sulked into his own self-pity.

It was obvious he hated the fact he was stuck in a temple, especially with his arch-enemy. He wanted to get out of here soon, so he can go back to his headquarters and plan his next move. He hasn't pulled a stunt like the one he pulled earlier ever since he lost one of the greatest schemes of all time; the Phantom Ruby War.

He hoped that kidnapping a bunch of animals across different zones and using them as Badnik fuel would help him rebuild his army after Sonic and the Resistance trashed everything he had, but thanks to the blue hedgehog and his band of heroes, all of that went down the drain.

Letting out a low sigh, he raised his head from his hands and heard Sonic's stomping echoing across the temple.

It was clear the hedgehog was looking hard for clues and he stopped at nothing to find them.

This annoyed Dr. Eggman.

"Hey, hedgehog! Could you stomp any louder!? You're not going to find anything!"

"I found something!"

"Wow... talk about lazy writing."

The fat doctor sat up and walked behind Sonic, he looked over the hedgehog's shoulder and asked him, "What did you find?"

He got his answer when he saw that Sonic had found footprints; muddy footprints. They lead to a giant door in front of the two of them, one that could possibly lead to the way out.

"Looks interesting enough," Sonic said. He cracked his fingers and cracked his neck. "Let's do it to it."

Sonic and Dr. Eggman walked to the door, but as soon as they got to it, they noticed that it had no doorknob nor a lever. Instead, what they saw were two golden buttons on the side of it. Dr. Eggman walked to the right and pressed the button, Sonic pressed the left one.

The door did nothing.

The two pressed their buttons again.

The door did nothing again.

"Okay, I got an idea," Sonic said. "Let's do it together. On the count of three."

Dr. Eggman pressed his hand on the button, so did Sonic.

"One... two... three!"

The two pressed the buttons at the same time and heard a strange crumbling coming through the walls. The ground was shaking, and pebbles were falling from the ceiling, one of them fell on Dr. Eggman's head.

The door was finally open, but all it had to show Sonic and Dr. Eggman was nothing but a dark cavern. It looked like the hallway that they're in now, but this one had a lot more mud on the floor and vines were plastered all over the walls. The only sources of light were the torches on the ground.

Before the duo can walk down the stairs, Sonic decided to mess with Dr. Eggman one last time.

"You really think you can keep up with me?"

"I was able to outrun you in the past!"

"If you can't keep up, just sit back down."

Sonic started speed-walking down the stairs, leaving Dr. Eggman to make a personal comment.

"One of these days, I _will_ destroy you, you meddlesome hedgehog!"

Dr. Eggman followed Sonic into the pit of light and dark, following the footprints they hoped would lead them to escape.

**_END OF CHAPTER 1_ **


	2. A Surprising Find

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and Eggman are trapped! Tails, Amy, Cream, Mighty, and Ray have to figure out how to get them out. A new ally joins Tails in his fight against Dr. Eggman. Speaking of which, he and Sonic discover something inside the temple that will change the course of the story.

**A Surprising Find**

Outside the temple, Miles "Tails" Prower and the others were standing by the door, the same door that locked Sonic and Dr. Eggman inside of an unknown temple. He and his team have been trying to get the door open for quite some time, but they couldn't find a way to blast it open.

Mighty tried punching it again with more strength put into his attack, but no matter how much of his strength was increased, the door wouldn't budge.

Cream and Cheese flew above the temple alongside Ray, hoping to look for another way in, but they found no success whatsoever.

They flew back down to Amy, who was helping Mighty bash the door down with her hammer, and gave her the bad news; there's no other way inside the temple. The pink hedgehog bowed her head in shame for a quick second before her determination took over her sadness. She smashed her weapon against the center of the door again, nothing happened.

"This is hopeless!" Amy slammed her hammer on the ground in rage. She picked it up and stomped over to Tails. "There's no way we're getting inside!"

"There's no other way in?" Tails asked.

"Sorry, Mr. Tails," Cream said. "Mr. Ray, Cheese, and I couldn't find anything above the temple."

"All of my strength couldn't knock it down!" Mighty shook his head. "The door didn't even move an inch!"

"Don't worry, guys," Tails said, motioning a _'calm down, guys,'_ motion with his hands. "We'll think of something... here's what I'm thinking. Since the door's made from an unknown material that's stronger than stone so we may have to use our combined strength to blast it open."

Tails snapped his fingers, as a lightbulb lit up in his head; he got an idea.

He ran over to the Speed Star. "We can use the weapons built into the Speed Star to blow it down, but we may need something else."

The second solution to Tails' problem came as soon as the heroes heard a loud boom in the sky, a sound that was as loud as an airplane engine. Ray shook his body at the sudden sound of that noise and hid behind Mighty's legs. The armadillo reached his arm over and rubbed his best friend's head.

Amy, Cream, and Cheese looked at the sky and smiled as soon as they saw the person who created the sound.

That person was not a person, it was Cream's good friend, G-merl: An advanced android who was once created by Dr. Eggman, defeated by Sonic, and reprogrammed by Tails to act like his predecessor, Emerl. The black and yellow colored peacemaker landed behind the Speed Star and greeted his friends with a wave.

"Knock, knock! Did somebody order an armed robot?"

"G-merl!" Tails smiled. "Thank goodness you're here! We could use your help!"

"Before that, Tails," Amy said. "How are you, G-merl? Did you take care of those Badniks Eggman sent after us when he kidnapped Cream?"

"You bet I did!" G-merl slammed his fist into his palm in happiness. "They didn't give me much of an issue. Though, I will say this,"

He reached behind him and took out the corpse of an old robot named Mecha Sonic, a robot used to steal the Master Emerald on Angel Island. G-merl held the body up by the back and showed his friends the damage he inflicted on Mecha Sonic.

"I don't think we're gonna be seeing _this_ guy anytime soon." he tossed the robot on the ground. This gave Cream and Cheese the perfect opportunity to run up to him and hug him. "Hey, kiddo, are you okay? You had me worried sick!"

"Sorry, G-merl," Cream bowed her head in shame. "I just wanted to save the animals trapped inside. Eggman was kidnapping them."

"I know, kiddo. I appreciate your kindness, but next time, try and be careful."

"Will do, G-merl!"

The robot rubbed the rabbit's head and leaned upward, facing the two-tailed fox. "Okay, Tails, what did you need help with?"

"When I give you a signal, I need you to help me blast open this door."

"Why? Are there Chaos Emeralds in there?"

"Sadly, no. Sonic and Eggman were fighting when suddenly, the two of them got locked inside this temple. We've been trying to get it open, but nothing's working."

"Seriously? Let me give it a shot!"

G-merl walked up to the door and punched it with his strength. Nothing happened. He tried it again and got the same result. He thought a third time would be a charm, but again, nothing happened.

"Yeah, this thing's not getting open."

"Yeah... that's why I got a plan."

"You sure this is gonna work, Tails?"

"Might as well give it a shot, right?"

"I guess so."

"Huddle up, guys. Here's the plan."

Everyone huddled together and listened to Tails' plan.

* * *

Inside the cavern, Sonic and Dr. Eggman walked down the stairs and have entered a dark room. A room made entirely out of bricks covered in mud and vines, a tiny bit of grass was growing between the crises of the floor.

The torches on the wall illuminated the darkness inside the place, which made the two explorers feel happy that they were able to follow the footprints they found with ease.

Speaking of which, the footprints were leading them to a narrow hallway. Large pieces of broken pillars were laying on the ground.

"Well, doesn't this place seem warm and cozy? Ha-ha," Sonic chuckled. He climbed up one of the broken pillars and walked on top of it. He front-flipped off it and landed on the one across.

"Just shut up and follow those footprints," said Dr. Eggman, as he casually stepped over the rubble. "I want to get out of here as fast as possible!"

"So, do I, but I got to say, this place isn’t half bad. Granted, it could be a lot cleaner, but it's not that big of a deal."

Dr. Eggman rolled his eyes and watched as Sonic did parkour off the pieces of rubble. He stepped over another block and continued following the footprints. Along the way, he decided to make a note of something he noticed when he entered the temple. It was something he wanted to talk about.

"You know, Sonic?" he said. "For an ancient temple, I thought the place would be flooded with riches."

"Yeah right, where's all the gold?"

"You think there would be stuff like coins, rings, Mobiums, gems, anything!"

"Ha! Rouge would be all over this place if there were gems hidden here!"

"If there was money here, I would use it to become the richest man in the world!"

"And what would you do next? Jump into a pool of gold while singing _'EggTales! Whoo Hoo! Every day he's out there making EggTales! Whoo Hoo! Tales of being fat and lazy, EggTales! Whoo hoo!'_ "

"Real mature, Sonic... I already have a cool theme song!"

"Sure, you do, EggTales, sure you do."

Sonic and Dr. Eggman stopped their banter for a quick second because they suddenly came into a brightly lighted room filled with small holes all over the walls. The two of them split up to see what the holes were for. Dr. Eggman kneeled over and looked inside the hole, seeing nothing but pitch-black darkness.

Sonic did the same thing, but he only looked inside the holes for a split second, unlike Dr. Eggman, who analyzed them.

"Why would the designers put holes in these walls?" the doctor stroked his mustache before coming to his conclusion. "Maybe people put pennies in them!"

Sonic looked inside one of the holes again before hearing a ticking noise on the inside. His fur tingled a little bit before he looked inside the hole. The ticking noise was getting louder and louder; something was coming towards him.

"Darts!" he shouted.

Before Dr. Eggman could register what, his enemy said to him, a wooden dart with a silver tip shot out of the hole he was standing by. He quickly moved his chubby body out of the way before another one came by. Sonic dodged a few darts that shot out of his side, and he cartwheeled over to Eggman.

Soon enough, every single part of the wall was shooting darts back and forth.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman rolled, ducked, and jumped over the darts as they kept shooting at them at a rapid speed. The former tried to boost his way through the sharp objects, but he figured that he would get killed before he could even make a step. He and Eggman were doing good in not becoming ka-bobs, but even Sonic figured they wouldn't last long at this rate.

Then, it was at that moment where Sonic had the most terrible idea planned; he and Eggman had to work together.

"Eggman, you still got those laser guns?" he asked.

"I think so!" Dr. Eggman evaded darts and reached into his pocket, pulling out two Egg Robo laser blasters. "Yes! Why?"

"Brace yourself!"

Sonic jumped up in the air and started spinning around faster than the speed of sound. He curled into a ball and felt himself going faster and faster by the minute. A blue streak of wind spawned right in a nanosecond, not only pulling Sonic up into the air, but Dr. Eggman was lifted as well. The doctor thought gravity was somehow messing with him, but as soon as he saw Sonic making a blue tornado, he knew what to do next.

Spinning around like a helicopter, Dr. Eggman dual-wielded his guns and started shooting beams of energy at the darts.

The blue tornado pushed itself through the storm of darts, as Sonic and Eggman began cheering for themselves, happy that they were going to get out of this alive.

Eventually, they made it to the other side of the trap room and broke out of their tornado.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman landed on the ground.

They were about to fist bump, but they remembered that they were enemies, so they refused to do such a thing. Instead, they turned away from each other and rubbed the back of their heads awkwardly.

"That was uh... a pretty good plan you had there," said Dr. Eggman.

"Yeah and uh... your aiming skills are... not too shabby," Sonic replied.

"Should we keep going?"

"I think that would be the best idea."

Before Sonic can continue his adventure, Dr. Eggman decided to have a quick talk with him.

"Hey, Sonic,"

"Yeah?"

"Bro to bro, what's with you and Amy?"

* * *

Amy Rose swung her hammer as hard as she could into thin air. She was standing on top of the Speed Star, rehearsing her role in Tails' plan. Speaking of him, the two-tailed kitsune plopped himself down into his red leather seat, placing the keys into the car's system.

Vroom. Vroom. Vroom. The engines starting up was music to his ears, the harmony continued as he placed his foot on the gas pedal, getting the circuits all warmed up. Ray, Cream, and Cheese sat in the backseat while G-merl and Mighty were standing behind the vehicle.

Tails cracked his fingers and flexed his shoulders. "Ready, guys?" he asked.

"Ready!" everyone shouted at once.

The fox pulled his finger back, aiming it at the missile button. He then slammed his finger on top of it and shouted, " _Go!_ "

Out the back of the Speed Star, three missiles shot out.

G-merl aimed his right arm upward and shot the same number of weapons.

Six missiles collided against the door and exploded, however, that wasn't all to Tails' plan. Mighty the Armadillo curled into his shell and homing attacked towards Amy. The pink hedgehog reeled her Piko Piko Hammer back before smacking him right in the center of his shell.

Mighty shot like a rocket across the air and slammed against the door, adding to the smoke that spewed around the temple. It covered everyone's line of vision.

Amy jumped down and stored her hammer away. She walked three steps upward and cupped her hands to her mouth. "Mighty!?... are you okay?"

There was no answer.

"Mighty?" Tails worried. _Oh, no... did my plan hurt him!?_

"M-Mighty, p-please answer us," said Ray.

Another moment of silence went by, and Mighty stepped out of the smoke, feeling as fresh as a daisy. "I'm all right, guys."

Not only was he okay, but the force of Mighty’s assault caused the door to fall to the ground, a puff of even more smoke rose from the ground. Tails' plan has worked.

"All right!" Cream cheered.

"Chao, Chao!" Cheese squealed and flew around the rabbit.

"Nice work, Tails," G-merl gave the fox a thumbs up.

"Ha-ha! Thanks, G-merl!" said Tails.

"Sonic! I'm coming, my darling Sonic!" Amy Rose blazed through Mighty, knocking him on his rear end. " _Sooooooooonnnnnnnniiiiiiiicccccccc!_ " she ran into the temple.

Tails jumped out of his car and ran after Amy. "G-merl, stay with Cream and Cheese! Mighty, Ray, come with me!"

The dynamic duo followed behind Tails, as they followed Amy into the temple's door.

* * *

After having an awkward bro to bro moment with each other, Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman kept following the trail of footprints that they hoped would lead to their escape. The two of them journeyed down a narrow hallway surrounded by yellow walls covered in nothing but muck, the torches lit up the room, showing how disgusting the walls were.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman took a sharp right and went down a flight of stairs, the trail was still crystal clear, even though they were printed on a muddy floor.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. The two of them pressed their feet into the dry mud, thankful that it wasn't wet. Otherwise, they would be as dirty as pigs.

They jumped off the stairs and leaped across a crack in the floor, a crack that leads to a bottomless pit.

Landing on the other side, they continued exploring.

"Sheesh, how long is this trail?" Sonic asked.

"Hopefully, not too long," Dr. Eggman replied. As he followed close behind, he looked down and noticed something odd about the footprints. They were an odd shape compared to the normal foot size of any Mobian or human. "Who do you think left these footprints?"

"Probably someone who's got a weird fashion sense in shoes. Look at those things; they almost look like the shape of my Werehog shoes."

"Please don't remind me of _that thing_."

"Aw, what's the matter, Egg-Face? Scared of Sonic the Werehog?"

"First off, _Dr. Eggman_ is the only one who can refer to himself in the third person. Second, the second I saw your Werehog form, I was scared! I was even more frightened when you took down the Egg Dragoon with those stretchy arms!"

"And that howl! Man, I loved howling at the moon at night! Sure, I woke some people from their sleep, but it was awesome! I think I may have one in the tank!"

"Don't you dare."

"I'm gonna do it!"

"Please, don't!"

"Okay, fine... I won't do it."

"Good!"

Dr. Eggman marched on ahead of Sonic, causing the hedgehog to jog up next to him. Being the wise-cracking hero, he is, Sonic decided to ignore the doctor's plea. He turned his cheeks and puffed up his chest. He got ready to howl like a werehog.

" _HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWL!_ "

" _Gawh!_ " Dr. Eggman jumped out of his socks and waved his arms and legs into the air, shaking them as fast as maracas. He landed on the ground, rear first, he was unaware that he accidentally pressed one of the brick tiles into the floor.

Sonic stopped howling and saw the reaction on Eggman's face. Instead of apologizing, he laughed.

"Hahahahahahaha! You should have seen the look on your face! You were like _'ahhhhhh!'_ hahahahahaha!"

Dr. Eggman grunted, as he pushed himself up and cleaned off his clothes. "You idiot! I told you not to do that!"

Sonic neglected Eggman's lecture and kept laughing. His moment of happiness came to a stop once he and Dr. Eggman suddenly felt the ground sink in.

Sonic gulped. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Dr. Eggman replied.

The floor sank again, causing Sonic and Dr. Eggman to look down to see what was happening. Before the two of them can move, the ground's sudden shaking caused them to fall down on their sides. They were too busy bouncing with the melody of the shaking to get up. They looked down and saw the ground fold down underneath them, greeting them to a pool of water that wanted to take them for a ride. In other words, they were about to head straight for a waterslide.

Before the two went down, Dr. Eggman had one last thing to say to Sonic. "You're the devil."

The floor crumbled below the heroes and they both shot off the waterslide. The two of them fell into a pit of darkness, feeling nothing but water and bricks below their butts.

They screamed at the top of their lungs. The pitches of their pleas went higher as the torches in the waterslide suddenly lit up one at a time, showing both the Mobian and the human the water tube that was awaiting their arrival.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman blasted off the waterside and descended into the tube.

As soon as they made physical contact with the ground, they found themselves spinning around and around the tube. The two of them were riding uncontrollably up the walls of the waterslide. Sonic tried his best to maintain a balanced position, but because of how fast he and Eggman were going, he couldn't do such a thing.

But as if Sonic wasn't suffering enough, Dr. Eggman grabbed the hedgehog's body and wrapped his arms around him, trapping him in a tight hug. The petrified doctor pressed his body against the hedgehog's chest, hugging him in fear.

"Let go of me, Egghead!"

"Watch out!"

Crash. Crash. Boom. Bang. Sonic and Dr. Eggman bumped into the walls of the watery pipeline and continued drifting down the path.

Suddenly, two fish smacked into Sonic's face, landing into his hands. The hedgehog looked down at them and saw that he caught an orange clownfish and a blue tank fish.

The orange clownfish looked up at Sonic with a face full of fear. "Have you seen my son?"

"Eww!" Sonic chucked the fish over his shoulder, unaware that he and Dr. Eggman were coming to an end to their waterslide.

"Hold on, Sonic!" Dr. Eggman hugged the hedgehog tighter.

"Do I have much of a choice!?"

The end of the path was calling each of their names, as both swimmers flew off of the pathway and crashed into a large river.

As they sank down into the water, they swam back up to the surface and doggy paddled their way down the river, praying that there would be land.

Unfortunately, the Mobian Gods above didn't accept their prayer because another waterslide was sitting right before them. Sonic and Dr. Eggman screamed and swam in the other direction, their arms flapping and splashing.

Sadly, their lack of swimming experience didn't pay off because the two of them were sucked down the drain hole and were shot out of the other side, slamming against the wall with a pool of water splashing on top of them.

Sonic crashed into the wall with his back while Dr. Eggman crashed chest first.

The two peeled off the brick wall like stickers and began falling to their doom; a pit.

Sonic waved his arms around like a monkey. "Whoooooooooooooa!"

Dr. Eggman rolled around as if he was in a pinball. "Why meeeeeeeeeeeee!?"

* * *

For what seemed like hours of falling. The hedgehog and the human dropped down from a hole in the ceiling and splashed down into a large pool of water that leads to an underground cavern. One that was decorated with multi-colored crystals instead of just moldy gold pillars.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman swam out of the water and took huge puffs of fresh oxygen. The latter sat down on his rear end while the hedgehog was having trouble swimming.

"Help me! Help me! I can't swim! I can't swim!"

Dr. Eggman grabbed Sonic's quills and pulled him up on his feet. From there, Sonic saw that the water was only a few feet deep.

"I can't... swim?" he looked at Dr. Eggman and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Heh heh... pretend you never saw that, okay?"

Dr. Eggman rolled his eyes and sat upward. He turned over his shoulder and saw an entire stairway, the footprints lead to the top.

He and Sonic walked over to the stairway and finally got out of the water. They shook themselves dry like dogs, as they trotted up the path. They looked down at the footprints to see if they matched the same ones they've been following for a while; they were.

"Now it looks like we're starting to get somewhere," Dr. Eggman said.

"After _that_ , we better be," Sonic replied.

Sonic and Dr. Eggman walked up to the top and found what they've been looking for all this time... sort of.

Instead of being home free, a small tomb was discovered.

The tomb was a lot cleaner than the previous parts of the underground temple, which made the scene even more beautiful to someone like Sonic. The stone floor had smooth textures on it while the walls had a golden outline with some ancient markings made by old civilizations.

There was one image of the very first Mobian interacting with the very first human, next to it was an image of Light Gaia punching Dark Gaia in the face. More images were displayed all over the walls, but they were all similar in terms of their concept; they were all portraits of culture throughout the history of Mobius.

Agriculture, industrialization, everything that happened in Mobius' history was displayed on these walls.

But the one that intrigued the blue hedgehog the most was a picture that reminded him of an old adventure he had with his friends. It was a war image that was printed in much more darker colors compared to the bright colors of the other ones.

The left side showed Chief Pachacamac leading the Knuckles Clan into battle, and on the other side, a white-furred echidna named Imperator Ix was leading a clan of echidnas called the Nocturnus Clan, against their enemies. He was pictured being side by side with an echidna Sonic met a while back named Shade, a person who was not only friends with Sonic, she was close friends with Knuckles as well.

"Shade?" Sonic smiled. "Never thought I'd see her again. I wonder how she's doing."

The picture showed the Knuckles and Nocturnus Clans fighting with each other over Angel Island, the Knuckles Clan had their soldiers while the Nocturnus Clan had their own people as well as advanced robots called Gizoids. The most famous one was seen standing next to Shade in the picture.

That said Gizoid was once a friend Sonic knew from the past.

"Emerl."

Sonic walked over and placed his hand on the picture of Emerl, looking at all of the charcoal textures the portrait of Emerl had on his face. Sonic slowly leaned his head into the picture and smiled, remembering the time he had to kill Emerl because the robot was planning to destroy the world.

"We miss you, buddy,"

Before the blue blur can continue looking for a way out, something caught his eye. It wasn't another piece of art, it was something else.

On the ground, sitting on a pile of rocks was a robot that bore a strong resemblance to Emerl. The only significant difference between this robot and Emerl is the fin plate on its forehead, which is shaped like a four-pointed star with a split in the top spike, and a chest plate.

Unlike Emerl, who was more of a mustard-yellow, orange, olive-brown, and beige color, this one had a dark blue, light blue, and light green color scheme. It almost resembled the water god of destruction, Chaos, because of its colors.

This robot was a Gizoid. It was all broken and rusted up. All of its colors were camouflaged within muddy brown and grassy green dirt.

Surprised to see an obscure robot like this one sitting here alone, Sonic tip-toed over to it and leaned over, getting a look at its bulging dark blue eyes.

"No way," he said. "Is this for real?"

Just as he was about to pick up the Gizoid, Dr. Eggman called his name. "Sonic! I think I found a way out of here!"

Turning over his shoulder, Sonic saw Dr. Eggman pointing to a wall that looked like it was about to fall apart, the other side was glowing thanks to the sunlight on the other side. The hedgehog turned back to the Gizoid and analyzed its damages. Not only was it dirty, but it also had dart holes all over its body and it had a few scratches on its legs and arms.

Sonic discarded the robot and ran past Eggman. "Stand back!" he rolled into a ball and homing attacked the wall, blinding Dr. Eggman's eyes with the sunlight.

The doctor shielded himself by standing back from the blazing sun. Sonic landed next to him and chuckled, happy to see the sun once again. Dr. Eggman chuckled as well and clapped his hands with joy.

Sonic took a step before turning to the doctor. "Catch ya later, Egg-Face! Up, over, and gone-!"

Prior to Sonic finishing his classic one-liner, something blasts out of the blue and tackles the hedgehog and skidded him against the ground. The latter landed on his chest and felt his face being pinned down by a metallic silver hand. His body was pinned down by a rock-hard knee and something ominous was sneering over him.

Sonic's emerald green eyes looked up and saw the thing that pinned him down. That something was Sonic's robotic doppelganger, Metal Sonic.

"What the!? Metal Sonic!? I see you're not a Phantom Ruby clone anymore, isn't that nice?" Sonic said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Bahahaha! _'Catch you later, Egg-Face!_ ' " Dr. Eggman mimicked his enemy. "That's you. That's what you sound like!"

"I somehow knew you had a trick up your sleeve. I just _urgh!_... I wish I did have a better reaction time! _Gah!_ " Sonic struggled to get free, but Metal Sonic's weight was pushing him down. "How long was he here for?"

"While you were chasing me into the temple, I was able to send a distress signal to Metal Sonic because I somehow knew we were going to get stuck in this temple! Luckily, he came just in the nick of time!"

"That's a lie! You totally made that up! You called him here just now, didn't you?"

"I cannot confirm nor deny that fact."

Sonic rolled his eyes and grunted, feeling the pressure Metal's hand is putting on his face.

"Well," Dr. Eggman clapped his hands and smirked. "This has been fun, Sonic, but _I_ got to get back to work, evil doesn't brilliantly plan and execute itself, you know!? Down, under, and fast!" he bolted right out the pathway.

"It's up, over, and gone, you Eggs-Benedict-Arnold!"

Sonic plopped his head back down to the ground, just in time to hear some words come out of Metal Sonic.

"Well, well, well," Metal said. He chuckled in the middle of his sentence. "If it isn't my loathsome copy. Haven't seen you in a long time. I look forward to making you suffer."

" _Heh!_ I could say the same thing to you, Metal... hold up a minute, did you just talk?"

"What?"

"Did you just speak full sentences?"

"Yeah, I've always done that."

"Since when?"

"Since that Metal Overlord incident. You know, that time I was in my Neo form?"

"You spoke back then? I didn't even notice."

"Really? It's kind of a long story. You see, Dr. Eggman was rebuilding me one day and then he was all like, _'Metal, I think you should be more intimidating, which is why I'm going to give you a voice chip!'_ and then I was all like _'Whoa, Doctor, don't you think silence is golden?'_ and he replied, _'Nonsense, Metal! Everyone needs a voice actor! No matter how stupid they sound!'_ and so I was like... hey, wait a minute, you're distracting me!"

Sonic miraculously pulled away from Metal Sonic, pushed his feet back, and rammed them straight into Metal's face. The robotic doppelganger tumbled across the room before his back smacked against the wall. He slid down the brick wall and landed on his bottom.

"I should have seen that coming." Metal said. He pushed himself upward and extended his claws. "I've been waiting a long time for this rematch! No Phantom Ruby clones, no Neo forms, just _you_ and _me!_ "

"All right, bring it on!"

Sonic the Hedgehog didn't hesitate to quickly boost towards Metal, firing an uppercut straight to his face. He then punched the robot twice before landing a kick to his face. Sonic was about to finish it off with a special attack, but Metal Sonic's enhanced acrobatics and reflexes helped him counter attack with brute force.

Sonic's face smacked against the ground, but the hedgehog was able to roll into a spin dash, he went straight for his robot clone, but the latter used a Black Shield to send Sonic flying into the wall.

"Chaos Spear!" Metal Sonic shouted. He chucked a yellow streak of energy at Sonic, who moved out of the way and watched it explode when it touched the wall.

"Who am I fighting here?" Sonic joked. "I thought I was beating the snot out of you, Metal, not Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"Shadow's biodata really comes in handy!" Metal replied. He activated his jet boosters and charged at his rival.

Sonic jumped over Metal and flipped kicked him into the ground. Metal skidded across the bricks before rolling on top of his stomach.

Metal got back up and performed his attack again.

Sonic leaped onto the wall of the room and began running around, recreating all those classic chases he and Metal used to have back on Stardust Speedway.

The two of them chased each other around in a complete three-sixty. Metal Sonic was starting to lose his patience because Sonic was going much faster than before.

"Stop running and fight like a man!" Metal shouted. He shot three Chaos Spears and a missile at Sonic, none of them got him.

"What's wrong, Metal, can't keep up?" Sonic smirked. He leaped off the wall, ran across the room, and jumped back to Metal Sonic. When he did that, he landed a good punch across Metal's face. But unfortunately, Metal recovered quickly and grabbed Sonic's throat.

He pushed Sonic upward and smacked his head into the ceiling, causing some rocks to rain down on the floor. Sonic joined the rocks on the ground and saw Metal racing towards him, his fists were pulled back.

Sonic rolled out of the way, hearing Metal slam his fists against the tiled floor.

"Missed me!" Sonic joked before he back-flipped kicked and volley kicked Metal. The robot fired a punch at Sonic, but the hedgehog dodged, grabbed Metal's arm, and slammed his knee into his gut. He then flipped Metal over and jumped up to body slam him.

Metal prevented himself from being crushed by rolling to the side. He picked Sonic up and punched him in the gut. Sonic fired two blows and a kick, but all three attacks were deflected by the robot, who grabbed Sonic's hands and head-butted him.

Sonic stumbled backward after feeling that kind of pain to his forehead, as he rolled underneath Metal and tripped him with his foot.

Metal shot upward and kicked Sonic in the chest, sending him straight into the Gizoid's chest.

Sonic sat up and noticed his back landed against the Gizoid's chest plate. "Oops, sorry Dead Robot,"

"This fight has gone on long enough!"

"Really? You want to make it short? The audience loves it when we fight!"

"Enough is enough! It's time to end this!"

Metal Sonic clenched his fists and slightly shook his arms and wrists in pure anger. His head started to rattle as well and soon his entire body did the same. Within a matter of seconds, orange and yellow sparks emitted from his body. He was overloading himself with his circuitry, causing blue sparks to emit from his body. An energy field flowed down from his body to his fists. He was ready to cook Sonic into a fried hedgehog.

"Oh, no, not this move again," Sonic moaned.

"V. Maximum Overdrive activated!" Metal said. He aimed both of his hands at Sonic and called out his attack. "Target Acquired: Fire!"

The bolts of electricity shot out like fireworks, they all aimed towards Sonic with bright glittering lights.

Just as it was about to shock Sonic with around nine-thousand volts of electricity, the blue blur dodged out of the way and did something he didn't think would do any harm; he allowed the Gizoid to take the hit.

The electrical field wrapped around the Gizoid, causing its entire body to shutter. The electricity's sounds got louder and louder, as the Gizoid kept agitating.

Sonic and Metal stopped fighting and saw the Gizoid moving due to the amount of charges it was receiving. The two of them were about to run away out of fear that the Gizoid would explode, but before they can make a single step, the robot emulated a white light of energy.

It blanketed the tomb, trapping Sonic and Metal in a pool of light.

The two covered their eyes and crouched down.

Eventually, the eye-blinding light cleared up, freeing Sonic and Metal from its capture. The wave of energy somehow evaporated into thin air, bringing life and color back to the tomb.

But despite how large the lake of light was, no casualties were made to the place.

Everything looked the same. The pictures, the pieces of rubble, everything was the same. The Gizoid was still laying in its original position, but smoke was spewing from its chest plate, armpits, and kneecaps.

Sonic and Metal lowered their arms and looked at the Gizoid, the former was flabbergasted that a rusted old robot could survive such a catastrophic blow.

"How did... how did he survive that?" Sonic asked. He walked up to the dead drone and looked over him, smoke blew in his face. He backed up and wiped the steam away from him. "I mean, he technically didn't survive because he's already dead, but what I meant to say was that his body somehow took that blow as if it was alive... where am I going with this?"

Metal Sonic punched Sonic across the face and knocked him on the floor. A Chaos Spear spawned in his left arm, as he stepped on the hedgehog's chest with his metallic red foot.

Sonic struggled to escape, but Metal Sonic's weight prevented him from doing so. He looked up and heard the voice of a Chaos Spear calling his name, he knew that thing wanted to poke his eye out and that Metal Sonic really wanted to kill him.

Punch. Punch. Punch. He whacked Metal's foot with brute force, but Metal Sonic's will kept his foot on his enemy's skin colored chest.

The Chaos Spear was aimed towards Sonic's throat. "Any last words?"

Sonic grunted and growled before something caught his eye. He gasped and shook his hands and face, warning Metal to pay attention to his surroundings. "Yes!... you might want to say hello to our new friend!"

"Huh?"

Metal Sonic turned his head to the side, he quickly jerked it back as soon as he saw what Sonic was talking about.

The once dead Gizoid... was moving.

The blue and green robot stood up using its own hands and feet, slowly standing up as if it was a toddler learning to walk for the first time. It planted its legs on the ground and pushed itself up with its arms. It tripped on its foot the second it stood up, but it regained balance in a split second.

Metal took his foot off Sonic's chest, giving the hedgehog a chance to jump up on his feet.

The Gizoid stepped forward three times prior to lifting its head up, looking at both fighters with its big dark blue eyes. It turned its head to the left and saw Sonic the Hedgehog, and then to the right where he saw Metal Sonic. It started to scan the two of them, searching for information about them.

"Lifeform Identification: Sonic," it spoke in a robotic male voice. "Species: Hedgehog. Height: 3 feet, 3 inches. Weight: 77 pounds. Alignment: Good."

"77 pounds?" Sonic asked. He patted his tummy with a frown. "Am I getting fat?"

"Lifeform Identification: Metal Sonic. Species: Robot. Height: 3 feet, 3 inches. Weight: 275.4 pounds."

"Ha! You're fatter than I am!"

"Alignment: Evil."

Sonic gave a small whistle, as he folded his arms. A smirk was on his face. "Looks like we got a smarty pants here. This guy sure knows his stuff."

"How do you know so much about us?" Metal Sonic asked. "And more importantly, who are you?"

"To answer your first question," said the Gizoid. "I scanned your biodata, it's one of the many perks of being a robot. Second, my name is CD-2003, but my creators call me... **_Synergy_**."

**_END OF CHAPTER 2_ **


	3. My Name is Synergy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Tails and the others navigate their way through the temple, Sonic and Metal get to know the mysterious Gizoid named Synergy. Meanwhile, Knuckles the Echidna tries to contact someone from his past.

**My Name is Synergy**

While Sonic and Metal make a fascinating discovery, Tails and his team were making their way down the same pathway that Sonic and Eggman journeyed through. They're not sure if the those two went this way, but because of how linear the temple's design is, they didn't see another reason to ignore the designated pathway.

The two-tailed fox was using his tails to fly over some of the broken pillars; the yellow flying squirrel was following him. Mighty and Amy, lacking the ability to fly, had to stick to the ground.

They hopped over a few pillars before the pink hedgehog tripped on one of them. She fell on her face and moaned.

Mighty jumped over a block and placed Amy's shoulder around his neck, helping her up on her feet.

"Careful, Amy," he said. "Watch your step."

"Thanks for the warning," Amy said sarcastically, she brushed off the dirt on her red velvet dress. "This place is _disgusting!_ Look what it's doing to my clothes!"

"Well, what do you expect from an abandoned tomb? Fine dining and sanitary hotel rooms?"

"No!... but those would be a lot better than this!"

"Calm down, Amy," Tails said. "We've been through worse."

"I know we have, but this is disgusting!"

Tails and Mighty rolled their eyes and continued searching for Sonic and Eggman. Ray moved his eyes high and low, looking for any clues that may lead him to his goal. Much to his surprise, he eventually found something in the form of footprints; three sets to be exact.

"Hey, guys! Look down there!" he pointed to the tracks below. Everyone gathered around them and inspected them one by one.

"This one looks like Sonic's!" Amy smiled, she wrapped her arm around Tails in excitement.

"And this o-one l-looks like E-Eggman's!" Ray flinched when he said Eggman's name.

"But... who does these tracks belong to?" Mighty pointed to the mysterious third set of footprints, the ones shaped like a robot's boot.

"Did something follow them down here?" Amy asked.

"That wouldn't be possible." Tails stroked his chin. "These footprints are dry, Sonic and Eggman's tracks are wet. If anything, something was down here before them. We better get a move on before they find out what it is!"

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, as they ran down the trail of footprints, unaware of what Sonic has found underground.

* * *

"Synergy?" Sonic said to the mysterious Gizoid. He stroked his chin and eyeballed Metal Sonic with a confused yet intrigued look. He tapped his foot three times before nodding his head. "Sounds fancy,"

"What kind of ridiculous name is that?" Metal Sonic inquired.

The green/blue robot known as Synergy stepped forward, motioning towards the metal hedgehog. "I will admit, the name sounds ridiculous when I first heard it. But once I found out what I'm capable of, I realized that the name made sense. It still sounds a little weird, but hey, what can you do?"

Sonic and Metal glanced at each other. It was obvious the two were confused as to why this person was trapped down here for a long time. They both inferred he was locked in her for a while because of how much mud, dirt, and injuries he has on his body. They both faced him again and prepared to ask more questions. Particularly Metal Sonic, who was intrigued that his power was able to supercharge a broken robot.

"How did you get down here?" he asked.

"If I were to, be honest, I don't remember. That last thing I recall was sitting by the campfire with my colleagues. Then suddenly, there was this black hole in the sky, and I was struck by lightning!"

Both hedgehogs stared at one another again. No matter what answers they got, they were still confused.

"Black hole in the sky?" Metal said.

"Struck by lightning?" Sonic jerked an eyebrow above his head.

"It sounds crazy, I know," Synergy shrugged his shoulders. "But it's true! I was camping out in the Mystic Ruins with... them!" he pointed at the picture to this left.

The duo of hedgehogs looked in the direction the Gizoid was pointing at. They were looking at the same picture of the Knuckles Clan declaring war on the Nocturnus Clan. The blue blur stepped forward and analyzed the right side of the picture, admiring all of the Gizoids painted in that picture. What got him the most was the fact that Emerl and Shade were standing next to Imperator Ix. Synergy walked closer to the picture and stood next to Sonic, not too close, but close enough to send chills down the hedgehog's spine.

The robot stroked the picture with his fingers, accidentally getting some paint and charcoal on his fingers.

Metal admired the painting as well, drawing his own conclusions about Synergy's origins. "You came from the Mystic Ruins?"

"Yes, I did. I was built and programmed by-"

"The Nocturnus Clan!" Sonic cut off the Gizoid's sentence.

"Oh, you know them?"

Sonic gave a cocky whistle before smirking. "I remember those losers came down to Mobius to steal the Master Emerald one time, but my friends and I kicked sent them crying to their mommas!"

"If by losers, you mean a highly technologically advanced civilization responsible for several world breaking achievements? Then yes, that's them."

"The same group of echidnas with technology that could be beneficial towards my master's goal of conquering this planet." Metal Sonic snapped his fingers; he drew his conclusion. "If you're here, then that means it’s possible some of their technology has been hidden away."

"Don't be ridiculous, bucket head," Sonic chuckled. "When they showed up here, my friends and I destroyed all their stuff!"

"But it's likely they hid some of it away before they were banished into the Twilight Cage. If Synergy's alive, then that means there could be more technology hidden around our world."

 _What are these two talking about?_ Synergy said in his mind. _They're acting like the Nocturnus Clan have died... did they?_

Synergy shook his head before backing away from the picture. "Listen, fellas, I thank you both for waking me from my slumber. It sounds like I missed a lot, so I must go see what's happened since I've been gone. I bid you both a good day."

"Not so fast, Synergy," Metal Sonic raised a finger, causing the Gizoid to pause his progression. "I've seen your kind before; my master has worked with two Gizoids like you. You're _very_ valuable."

"Well, someone once told me I'm only worth two cents. I wasn't sure whether that was a compliment or an insult."

"Not that kind of valuable! I meant to say you can be very useful for the Eggman Empire. If you work with my master, you can help him achieve his goal in ruling the world."

As Metal told Synergy about how valuable he is, Sonic was mimicking Metal's voice by dubbing over him silently, making funny movements with his hands and face.

Metal Sonic, who knew Sonic was mocking him in the background, ignored him and finished talking to Synergy.

"You can really be an assist to the Eggman Empire,"

Synergy gazed into Metal's red eyes for a quick moment before shaking his head. He was displeased about this offer. "Sorry, uh... Metal Sonic, was it? You seem like a nice guy,"

"He really isn't!" Sonic shook his head, folding his arms.

"But I'm not interested in working for someone else. I'm programmed to live and serve under Imperator Ix. I have my own agendas of ruling the world, but I appreciate your offer. I bid you good day."

"Oh... you think I was making an offer?" Metal Sonic chuckled. "That's cute. Look here, I'm in no mood to negotiate, you're coming with me!"

"Watch your tone there, Sonic rip-off, you don't want to do this!"

"Come on, Metal, don't be a jerk!" Sonic called out.

"Enough!" Metal Sonic raised his fist. "You're coming with me whether you _like it or not!_ "

He lunged his metal fist right at Synergy's face, thinking one punch would knock the Gizoid out cold. But Metal Sonic couldn't have been more wrong. Instead of landing a punch, Synergy caught Metal's hand and trapped it in his clutches.

Sonic stood back and clenched his fists, ready for a possible fight.

Synergy sneered close to Metal's face and stared into the robot's soul. "Metal Sonic skill move: successfully copied." Synergy landed the same blow Metal tried to give to him, forcing him to skid across the ground on his chest. The robot then turned to Sonic and saw that he was ready for combat.

"You know, Synergy," Sonic grinned. "You sounded nice at first, but as soon as you said you have your own plans for world domination, the good feeling sadly went away. In other words, I'm gonna jack you up!"

"Show me what you can do, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sonic and Synergy charged at each other and began to fight. The former kicked the latter straight in the face and homing attacked him into a wall. Sonic flew backward into the air and homed in on Synergy again and again and again. All Synergy did was bump against the wall with every blow, trying to find time to copy Sonic's skill moves.

Sonic spin-dashed into Synergy one more time before shouting, "I can do this all day!"

"So, can I!" Synergy finally dodged Sonic's spin attack and rolled across the floor. His blue eyes began to glow a lime green color, meaning he transferred Sonic's Spin Dash ability into his system. "Have a taste of your own medicine, hedgehog!"

Synergy curled into a ball and started revving up a boost of speed. He accelerated around the room before he bumped right into Sonic, who was also in his ball form. The two of them ricocheted off of the walls, homing attacking into each other with all of their strength.

Bump. Hit. Bounce. Hit. Both fighters were in an action-packed brawl.

Their fight soon ended as soon as two Chaos Spears blasted them out of orbit. It was Metal Sonic, who looked to be more ticked off than he was before. His eyes were on fire and the oil that ran in his veins boiled like blood. He wasn't going to let a day like this be ruined by a blue rat and an arrogant Gizoid, so he joined the fight.

Priority number one for him was apprehending Synergy, so he assaulted him first.

Synergy leaped over Metal's claws and homing attacked the mindless drone in the back.

Sonic leaped up, and overhead punched him in the face. Synergy tripped and fell on his knee because of that. Sonic was about to hit him again, but Synergy dodged the attack and copied Sonic's overhead punch.

He kicked Sonic across the face, slammed his knee against his chest, and chucked the hedgehog straight out the cavern's door with a spinning back fist.

Metal Sonic woke up and tackled the blue and green robot from behind, flying in the same path Sonic flew out of.

The three of them landed in the water in the crystal caves, giving them more room to fight each other. All three brawlers jumped up with their quick reflexes and continued fighting.

Punch after kick after jab after volley kick, all of these attacks were flying across the room from one fighter to another. All three of them were equally matched for each other. Nobody knew who was going to fall on the floor and who would be the one walking away.

Synergy landed a strong uppercut on Metal.

Sonic hook punched Synergy.

The Gizoid straight punched Sonic.

A Chaos Spear exploded when it touched Synergy’s back.

Sonic homing attacked both Synergy and Metal Sonic.

The watery caves became nothing but a battlefield.

Synergy grabbed both Sonic and Metal and slammed them against each other, right before the top half of his body spun around. At first, he was going slow, but now he was going faster and faster. Sonic's stomach pushed his food up to this throat, hoping he would cough up his lunch while Metal Sonic's eyes jingled up and down like bells.

The two of them were released from Synergy's grasp. They fell right into the water, landing on top of each other.

They jumped up on their feet, the fastest thing alive wanted to work out a battle plan. "Metal, I hate to say it, but we need to attack him from both sides, we can take him out together!"

"I take no orders from you!" Metal angrily punched Sonic and sent him diving into the water. His jet boosters shot out a wave of fire that sent him flying into Synergy. But the Gizoid jumped over the metal doppelganger and plunged straight into the water, submerging his whole body underwater.

Metal Sonic ran five steps forward and looked for his new enemy.

He scanned every inch of the water around him, but he found nothing in sight.

Sonic stood across from Metal and did the same thing.

"Where did he go!?" Metal shouted.

"I don't know!" Sonic shouted. "You're the one who lost him!"

" _I_ lost him!?"

"Yeah! You just _had_ to attack him!"

"Don't give me that load of crud, you were planning on attacking him too! He said that he had his own agenda for world domination! Knowing you, you were going to be totally on top of that!"

“Of course, I would! Everyone on Mobius has had to deal with Eggman reawakening Chaos, using the Eclipse Cannon to blow _half_ the moon apart, and not to mention breaking the world apart, unleashing Dark Gaia in the process! Synergy’s just one more threat I’ve got to stop before anyone else gets hurt!”

Blub. Blub. Blub. Bubbles rising out of the water stopped Metal from retorting against the hedgehog. He, along with Sonic, turned his head, looking down in the left direction. More bubbles popped out of the pool, making a popping sound. But these weren’t just ant normal bubbles coming from the bottom of the water, they were something else. What could they be?

Sonic and Metal stood back, getting as far away from the bubbles as they could.

Each of them stood into a fighting stance, trying to prepare themselves for Synergy’s next attack.

Blub. Blub. Blub. Water splashed into the air and waves started to brush against both Sonic and Metal Sonic’s legs. The former’s fur was soaking wet, water trickled down over Metal Sonic’s metallic body.

Just then, something sprouted right out of the water. It splashed nothing but fresh liquid all over the crystals. Sonic and Metal Sonic jumped back and landed on their feet, looking up to see one of the strangest things they’ve ever seen a Gizoid do. Synergy came out of his hiding spot with a new look and a new power. He resembled a mix between himself and Chaos, still wearing his distinctive armor, though this has become just as malleable as Chaos’ own liquid body. To top it all off, Synergy’s mouth grew a lethal set of jaws. He roared as loud as a lion as soon as he saw the faces of his two enemies. He extended his three claws and swiped at the air, trying to strike fear into the souls of his attackers.

Sonic’s eyes widened when he saw this sudden transformation. A Gizoid that had the ability to change into a Chaos form? How could that be? “W-what the!?” he shouted, his jaw dropped. “Since when can Gizoids do that!?”

“He seems to have activated some kind of Chaos Emulation,” Metal said. He slapped his knuckles together, ready for a fight, despite how surprised he was to see Synergy’s new power. “No matter, I’ll deal with him myself!”

“Metal! Again, I really hate to say it, but we must team up in order to beat him! Gizoids can’t copy the abilities of two people at a time! We need to strike him from both sides!”

“Like I said before, I take no orders from- _Argh!_ ”

Synergy crushed Metal Sonic’s body with his fist. He swatted at Sonic, but he missed. Sonic landed back down and helped Metal up on his feet. Something he would never do, but if he wanted to stop Synergy from planning his quest for dictatorship, he had to team up with one of his deadliest foes. Metal accepted Sonic’s hand and felt himself being pulled off the ground. He nodded at the hedgehog and cracked his metallic fingers.

“How about we do this your way,” Metal Sonic said.

“Good idea!” Sonic gave a thumbs up to the robot.

Synergy roared again. Sonic and Metal engaged into combat with the oversized monster.

* * *

Green Hill City: A decently-sized quaint town that resembled a lot of cities such as Empire City and Central City. Built in a blocky hill landscape with layered soil, colored in diverse shades of green and brown grass on top of the hills, like how the landscape it’s built upon was structured. Placed alongside a lake and a river, Green Hill City had multiple islands housing several buildings near the central city area. The biggest attraction of the city was a long, narrow bridge that was colored red titled the Red Gate Bridge. The attention grabber ran across the whole city, helping pave roads to get to other islands inaccessible by walking on land.

Following the Eggman’s devastation on the city during the Phantom Ruby War, the location went from a timid town to an all-out war zone, with various Death Egg Robot Sentinels, Badniks, Super Badniks, and other robots swarming the city, running amok. Property damage is seen no matter what section of Green Hill City is shown to one’s eye.

While the place was still damaged, there were those who stayed behind to clean it up.

One of those individuals was riding inside of an elevator. The pipes clanging inside of the shaft kept the person up during a tiring afternoon, along with a cup of coffee he had in his hands. The rattling caused by the elevator made tiny drops of coffee touch the lid with the tip of its liquefied fingers. The person pressed his lips against the tip of the lid, feeling the warm, luscious beverage run down his taste buds. He removed himself from the taste of his coffee and took a deep sigh, looking forward to the end of the day where he would go back to his home.

The individual inside the elevator shaft was the Commander of the Resistance himself, Knuckles the Echidna.

He wished for nothing more than to go back to his humble adobe in the clouds; Angel Island, where he wanted to sit down on the top of Shrine Isle, watching over the Master Emerald. He also wanted to have a chance to talk to both Tikal, who he hasn’t seen in a long time. He would have liked to Chaos as well, but he knew that the water god didn’t talk to anyone ever since he found out Dr. Eggman used the Phantom Ruby to clone him. Knuckles shook his head after thinking about that Chaos clone, as he looked down at his coffee mug, he took another sip.

Suddenly, the elevator decided it wanted Knuckles to leave, so it stopped right where he wanted to go. The silver doors open with a swooshing sound, allowing Knuckles to walk out into Resistance HQ.

As soon as he got to the large catwalk, he looked over the railing and observed many soldiers of the Resistance carrying cargo boxes, talking amongst themselves, re-loading their Wispons, and sparring with their friends in marital arts combat. Knuckles nodded his head in satisfaction and walked down the stairs, greeting many soldiers that came his way.

“Afternoon, fellas,” he greeted with a wave.

“Good afternoon, Commander Knuckles,” said a purple beaver.

Knuckles walked off the stairs and walked down the room, he respectfully smiled to other fractions of the Resistance.

“What’s up, Commander?” said a green female cat.

“Hey, how are you?” Knuckles waved.

“What’s going on, Commander Knux?” a purple bird walked up to his commander and fist bumped him. Knuckles fist bumped back.

“Good afternoon, buddy,”

A red bear and a black dog walked up to the commander and high fived him. They both said, “Hello, Knuckles!”

“Hey, guys!”

Knuckles watched as more soldiers passed him. He waved to the last few before he found someone he’s been looking for. It was a light brown male dog wearing boots that looked like Dr. Eggman’s, a black and white military jacket, and a military hat that matched the same colors as his jacket. A golden anchor was printed on the top. To finish his attire, he had a thick black mustache that curled against his nose. He was chatting with an orange cat and a brown bear.

“Captain Rex,” Knuckles called, he moved his finger in a _“Come here, please”_ motion.

The dog looked over his shoulder and saw Knuckles walking towards him. He quickly jerked his head back to his friends and started geeking out. “Oh my gosh! Commander Knuckles called my name! Be cool guys! Be cool!”

He ran to his boss and walked alongside him. “Captain Rex, reporting for duty, Commander Knuckles!”

“What’s the status on Operation: Reconstruction?”

“Yesterday, Fox Squad and I helped Professor Pickle re-build Spagonia University. He’s looking forward to the day his students come back to class.”

“That sounds great! Anything else?”

“Honey the Cat wants you to come over to her Fashion Studio in Empire City. She wants to show you the prototypes of those Resistance hoodies she teased a while back.”

“Tell her I’ll be there later. Do you have any intel on Eggman’s leftover facilities?”

“We recently cleared out all of Eggman’s bases in Green Hill, Mystic Jungle, and Metropolis. Some of our other squadrons are looking into the rest of South Island and Westside Island. But we can say that if we keep up this momentum, we’ll liberate Mobius of Eggman’s robots in no time!”

“That’s what I like to hear, Captain! Oh! Is the Resistance here for our meeting today?”

Captain Rex gave a nervous sound; he rubbed the back of his head. “Sadly, not everyone is here, sir.”

“What do you mean?”

“Team Dark had to do something for the G.U.N and Sonic, Tails, and Amy are chasing after Dr. Eggman. Said something about him kidnapping a rabbit and some animals.”

“Understandable. I hope they rescue those critters in time. Thanks, Captain.”

“No problem, boss!”

Before Knuckles walked into the second room, he stopped for a quick moment to ask one more query. “Wait, hold on a second, Captain Rex! One more thing!”

“O-oh, what’s wrong, sir?”

Knuckles looked around to see if anyone was listening to him. No one wasn’t paying attention. He leaned into Rex’s ear and whispered this: “Were you able to get into contact with… her?”

“Rouge, sir?”

“No, not her. I mean… _her?_ ”

Rex took a second to think about what Knuckles was trying to say. He snapped his fingers and shook his head. “No, sir. She hasn’t responded to any of our messages.”

Feeling disappointed, Knuckles nodded his head. “Thanks, Rex. I appreciate your help.” he patted the captain on his shoulder before walking into the Meeting Room.

“You’re welcome, sir,” Rex said. He suddenly gripped his shoulder and squealed. “OMG! He touched my shoulder! I’m never washing this jacket again!”

* * *

Knuckles opened the door and entered the main room of Resistance HQ, the room that had a large monitor that showed a map of Mobius on the screen. 99% of the map was blue, symbolizing land that belonged to the Resistance while only 1% of it was red, meaning it was land that belonged to the Eggman Empire.

As he walked in the room, he saw the only remaining members of the Resistance communicating with each other. Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy Bee, and Silver the Hedgehog were all sitting by the table, laughing at a funny story the green crocodile was discussing with them.

Knuckles sat himself down at the far end of the table, he placed his cup of coffee down and cleared his throat. “Attention, everyone!... I need your attention, please!”

Nobody listened to a word the leader was saying.

“Excuse me, guys? Hello?”

Everyone just kept talking.

“ _Hey! Shut up!_ ”

The Resistance stopped yapping their mouths and hushed themselves. The various eye colors faced Knuckles and waited to see what he wanted to say. Their ears were wide open, and smiles ran across their faces. Knuckles cleared his throat and prepared to speak.

“Good afternoon, everyone,”

“Good afternoon, Commander Knuckles!” everyone said politely.

Knuckles looked down at a clipboard in front of him and pulled it beside his chest. “Welcome back to Resistance HQ. Today is… let’s see here,” he read the clipboard filled with a list of Resistance activity since the conclusion of the war. “Today’s Day 56 of Operation: Reconstruction. First off, wow, I can’t believe we’ve made it this far. I’m extremely proud that we’ve been cleaning up our planet for that many days, and it’s all thanks to you guys, keep up the good work!”

The Resistance nodded their heads and smiled. Espio and Silver fist-bumped each other while Vector and Charmy high-fived.

“But despite our efforts to clean up the streets, Dr. Eggman has been out there making more of a mess than he did during the war. Luckily, I have a plan to apprehend him and fix our planet at the same time. We’re going to split up around the world and help the civilians rebuild their homes. Here’s what I thought out last night,”

Knuckles walked to the monitor and typed on the keyboard, pulling up a map of Mobius. “Team Chaotix, there’s a rumor that there’s a hidden Eggman base between Station Square and south of Metropolis. Your mission is to head over there and burn it to the ground!”

“Not a problem, Knuckles,” Vector grinned. “We’ll be back before you can say _‘Team Chaotix!’_ “

“Team Chaotix!” Charmy giggled, he was being a smart aleck.

“I was talking to Knuckles, smart aleck!”

“Silver,” the commander continued. “Soleanna’s had reports of Badnik sightings for a bit. Could you head over there and check things out?”

“Sure thing, Knuckles!” Silver saluted with a smile. “I came here to save my future. I won’t leave until peace has been restored!”

“That’s what I like to hear! All right, Resistance, move out!”

Team Chaotix and Silver jumped out of their seats and bolted right out the door, ready to fulfill their dreams of returning things to the way they were. Knuckles waved them goodbye and watched as the door slammed shut. This gave him the chance to do something he’s neglected to tell the Resistance about for a while, what could it be? He walked over to the monitor screen and went into the home page. From there, he scrolled through the various apps he had on his computer until he found communications. He clicked on the icon and scrolled down through his list of contacts.

_Sonic._

_Tails._

_Amy._

_Espio._

_Vector._

_Charmy._

_Shadow._

_Rouge._

_Unknown Number._

He pressed his fingers against the mouse, clicking on the anonymous label. He was suddenly greeted to a black screen with a silhouette of the person he’s trying to call. He waited and waited, praying to God that the person on the other side would give him an answer. Unfortunately, he was greeted to the déjà vu; a recorded message.

_“You’ve reached the number of Unknown Caller. Please leave a message, and the person will get back to you as soon as they can. Thanks, have a great day!”_

After hearing the beep, Knuckles spoke, “Hey, it’s me again… I’m about to head over to Empire City to observe some Resistance themed merchandise. It wasn’t my idea, but Honey the Cat insisted she’d brand her own clothing based off our team. Said it would help people support reconstruction… anyways, I was calling because… if you’re not busy, would you mind coming down to Resistance HQ in Green Hill City? I was hoping we could get a chance to catch up… I’ll um… talk to you soon… goodbye.”

He hung up the phone and let out a low sigh. He sat back down by the table and drank his last sip of coffee. _Why won’t you talk to me?_

* * *

Synergy’s Chaos Emulation swatted his arms at both Sonic and Metal, smacking them both right into the wall of crystals. Pieces of shiny objects shattered due to the impact and sprinkled all over the ground. The hedgehog and the robot landed on the ground on their stomachs, using their agile acrobatics and reflexes to get back on their feet.

Metal Sonic flew around Synergy and blinded him with an armada of missiles, providing a distraction so his teammate, for now, Sonic can spin dash the Gizoid. Sonic did just what he planned to do and nailed Synergy right across his face. He did the same thing as soon as he landed on his toes. Metal Sonic glided around the watery monster just in time to avoid an octopus-like arm with three fingers. He activated his Black Shield just in time to protect himself. Sonic ran up the walls, jumped off, landed on the top of the shield, and homing attacked Synergy’s forehead.

Metal de-activated his shield and fired one mighty uppercut up Synergy’s chin, hearing the monster wince in pain.

“Ha-ha! Say goodnight, gruesome!” Sonic grinned, diving himself into Synergy’s chest, giving him a taste of another Spin Dash.

“Don’t get too excited!” Metal ducked below Synergy’s next attack; a single swat with his arm. “He’s not finished yet!”

“He will be once _we_ deal with him!”

Sonic and Metal punched and kicked Synergy’s monster-sized chest one last time before they backed away, evading his fists hitting the ground. They re-grouped with one another and stood side by side, they were ready to end Synergy’s reign of terror, despite the fact he hasn’t done any harm above the surface.

“Ready for this, Metal?”

“I’m going to regret this.”

The blue hero of Mobius and the robotic copycat suddenly leaped up in the air with a spiral and faces one another. They focused their power into one of their hands, slowly pulling them back as if they were doing a slow-motion shot for a movie. Normal speed returned to them as soon as they slapped their hands together with a high-five. In mid-air, the three of them Spin Dash before they suddenly rocketed through the air, leaving a cloud of smoke in the shape of their spheroid states, thus greatly amplifying their combined speed.

Sonic’s main plan of attack… was the Double Boost, a move he did with a Rookie when he joined the Resistance. Specifically, the time they raided the Arsenal Pyramid in Green Hill Zone.

Sonic and Metal boosted through the crystals, shooting them directly into Synergy’s chest.

Left. Right. Up. Down. Synergy’s face was being blown from all directions. He lacked time to react to the trick up Sonic and Metal’s sleeves. He attempted to copy their moves and put them to use through his own means, but because of how fast the hedgehog and the robot went, his copying abilities failed him.

After one more final strike to the face, Synergy fell right out of his Chaos Emulation and returned to his normal form. He landed smack in the middle of the water, feeling the water that splashed onto the ceiling fall on top of him.

The Gizoid was now defeated, Sonic and Metal have won the fight.

When they both landed on the floor, the latter walked up to the defeated Gizoid. He still wanted to take him to his boss, so he decided that it would be best to arrest him now before anything else happened. But just as he got a foot closer to him, his fur-covered counterpart stepped in his way.

“Get out of my way, loathsome copy. That Gizoid possesses technology which will benefit my master’s goal of conquering this helpless world!”

Sonic shook his head defiantly. “No way, Metal! Even though this Gizoid’s a threat to Mobius, I’m not going to let you take him back to your boss, so that he can be used for Eggman’s schemes!”

As the two argued, Synergy tenderly put his hands on the ground, pushing himself up on his knee.

“Move, Sonic! Or I’ll make you move!”

“Ain’t gonna happen, Bucket-Head!”

“Don’t bother troubling yourselves,” Synergy spoke in a tired tone. “I can help myself up.”

Metal smacked Sonic across the face and sent him tumbling into a pile of broken crystals. He then punched Synergy in his chest, watching him fall on his knees.

“You’re coming with me; your powers will be a great advantage to the Eggman Empire. Besides, I’m sure my master would be able to assist in your goals in world conquest.”

“That’s a cute offer, but I refuse. No one tells me to come with them!” Synergy growled. “I have a master, one who allowed me to use my power for a purpose. I’m not letting a weak-willed moron hinder my true potential!”

“Cry me a river! I won, and you lost, you’re coming with me!”

Synergy growled one last time before he suddenly snickered. From there, he started laughing, laughing maniacally yet silently. Metal Sonic, confused, raised an eyebrow.

“What are you laughing at?”

“First off, I thought of a funny joke. Second, the only reason you won is because,” Synergy suddenly jabbed his hand straight into Metal Sonic’s chest, ripping into his circuits with his green-colored hands.

Appalled by Synergy’s sudden act, Sonic gasped and got up on his feet, landing in a squatting position.

Synergy then pulled out the only reason Metal was able to win; A shiny red Chaos Emerald. Metal Sonic felt part of his systems shutting down, particularly his upgraded systems. He felt his power decreasing by the minute, as he slowly lowered himself onto his knees. His eyes glitched and his body shook like a maraca.

“Of this!” Synergy kicked the de-powered robot into the water on his back. He held the red emerald in his hand and analyzed its shiny texture. “A Chaos Emerald. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.”

Sonic stood upward and clapped his fists against each other. “Hey, Emerl-Re-Color! Put that down!”

“You put up a good fight, Sonic. I will have to warn the Nocturnus Clan about you once I find them again.”

“Listen, moron! The Nocturnus Clan are gone! They’re trapped in the Twilight Cage!”

“You sound like you’re speaking the truth, but I prefer to see things with my own eyes. Farewell, Sonic the Hedgehog… oh, just in case you get any ideas about following me.”

Synergy rolled into a ball again and copied Sonic’s Homing Attack. He lunged himself at the hedgehog, who jumped over the Gizoid, crashing against the wall. Synergy came flying back towards him again, but all Sonic did was duck underneath him, the Gizoid whacked the wall again. Sonic kicked Synergy out of his ball form and watched him skid across the water.

“Wow, your aim’s as terrible as your design!” Sonic joked. Synergy, in a spin ball, charged at Sonic again, but he hit the wall twice.

He landed back to where he was originally and chuckled.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, curious as to why his new enemy was laughing until he figured it out. The walls of the caverns slowly began to shake, making a roaring sound that sounded like someone snoring. The caves roared louder and louder, as multiple shards of crystals, joined with large pieces of rubble, collapsed into the water. Sonic quick-stepped side to side, avoiding as many boulders and shards as he could. His speed didn’t save him, unfortunately, as he felt his head the main target of a large rock. He fell on the ground and felt many more rocks, pebbles, and crystals pile on top of him. Soon enough, he was completely covered in debris, giving Synergy the chance to walk away with the Chaos Emerald.

“ _Phew!_ Glad that’s over with,” Synergy began walking towards the door, leading to the tomb he was trapped in for so long. “One Chaos Emerald down, six more to… go?” he looked down at his hand and noticed that the red gem was no longer there. “What? Where did it go?”

He checked the water below him in case he might have dropped it, but he couldn’t find the emerald anywhere. “Did I drop it in the water?... No? Where is it?”

There was only one place he didn’t check; the pile of rubble he buried Sonic in. He glanced up and the big mess he made in the caves. There was no possible way he could find the emerald in there, but he needed to try, otherwise; he would go back to Imperator Ix empty handed, something he didn’t want to do. He moaned and facepalmed himself, as he walked over to the rubble and started picking up the rocks, tossing them to the side piece by piece.

Pick up. Put down. Pick up. Put down. He did this to all the rocks for what felt like hours when it was actually a few seconds. He was impatient about finding the emerald because he didn’t want to return to his clan looking like a loser. He picked them up and put them down again, when suddenly, he heard the voice of a female.

“Sonic!? Is that you down there?” it was Amy Rose.

Synergy jerked his head over his shoulder and gasped, he became paranoid.

Someone was coming down, possibly a friend of Sonic’s, meaning he needed to act fast. Otherwise, his clan would shun him for coming back with no Chaos Emeralds in hand. Synergy tossed the rocks over his shoulder, ignoring the sound of them splashing into the puddles of water. He started muttering to himself, trying not to panic.

“Come on, come on, come on! Don’t fail! Don’t fail! Don’t fail! Where is it? Where is it!? _Where is it!?_ ”

“Hey, I hear someone’s voice down there,” Mighty the Armadillo’s voice came closer to the cavern.

“No, no, no, no!” Synergy whispered, getting more scared that someone other than Sonic might discover him and possibly stop him from his quest. “Darn it! Where is the darn Chaos Emerald!”

“Hey, who’s down there?” Tails’ voice reached the entrance of the cavern.

Synergy placed his hands against his head, trying to calm himself down. He panted and panted until he finally decided to give up. He jumped off the rubble and ran across the water, tripping and falling into the mud in the process.

“Sonic!?” Amy called again.

Synergy pushed himself up and bolted right out the door, making his way to the exit.

Tails, carrying Amy, flew down from the waterhole in the ceiling along with Ray, who was carrying Mighty. All of them landed in the water and looked around the semi-beautiful environment. They would have appreciated the scenery a lot more if it didn’t look like the aftermath of a fight. All four of them glanced around their area, looking for any signs of their blue friend.

Mighty’s foot accidentally hit something on the ground. He turned his eyes to the object and jumped back as soon as he saw that he hit Metal Sonic. Ray walked up to him and looked down at well, letting out a quick gasp.

Tails entered the circle around Metal Sonic and stroked his chin. “Metal? What’s he doing here?”

Amy, walking around the caves, gasped with a worried tone. She cupper her hands over her mouth because she noticed the pile of rubble in front of her, worried that Sonic was underneath there. “Sonic!” she shouted in worry. “Are you okay!?”

Mighty, Ray, and Tails ran behind Amy and jumped onto the rock pile, tossing, flipping, chucking, and throwing rocks all over the place. The armadillo punched the rock pile, creating a couple of cracks in the pile. He tossed them to the side until he found Sonic’s arm sticking between two rocks.

“Hey!” he shouted. “I found him!”

Tails and Mighty worked together and pulled Sonic out of the rubble with all their might. As soon as they got him out, Amy and Ray took note that the blue blur was covered in black bruises, mud, and dirt. His fur was soaking wet and his eyes were closed. A red Chaos Emerald was clutched in between his fingers. He took it from Synergy when he kicked him out of his ball form. The yellow-orange fox took the emerald out of Sonic’s hands and tossed it to Ray before he wrapped Sonic’s shoulder around his neck.

Amy did the same thing for the other side, assisting Tails in carrying him down the rock pile. Mighty and Ray helped carry Sonic to the bottom, as they all laid him down on solid ground. Mighty gently pushed everyone to the side, trying to give Sonic some room, as he laid his ears against the hedgehog’s chest.

Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. Sonic’s heartbeat was still active.

Mighty released a calm sigh, as he leaned back up and informed the others. “He’s okay.”

Everyone took a breath of relief, but they were still worried about his injuries.

“Let’s get him back to my house,” Tails wrapped his brother’s shoulder over his neck. Amy did the same thing. “He needs rest.”

“Stupid Metal Sonic,” Amy snarled. “He’s going to pay for this!”

* * *

Pant. Pant. Pant.

_Come on, Synergy, come on!_

Run. Run. Run.

_What am I going to do? What are they going to say!?_

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

_I really hope no one’s following me! Come on, think happy thoughts! Think happy thoughts!... Gah, happy thoughts aren’t working!_

Synergy ran into a corner of the temple and tripped on his own feet. He fell on the ground, but he got up and continued running. He prayed that none of the voices he heard noticed that he was trying to escape. He prayed that he wasn’t being followed and he prayed that his clan wouldn’t punish him for coming home with nothing to give to them. He ran and ran down the temple until he came across a nearly broken wall.

He pulled his fist back and punched straight through the wall, the blazing sunlight blinded his blue eyes.

The robot dashed across the grassy fields, ignoring the beautiful scenery that he’s missed for a millennium. He rubbed his eyes and screamed into the air, scared of the consequences that he’ll suffer through as soon as he gets home. He stopped dead in the middle of his tracks and looked over his shoulder.

The temple’s exit was empty, nothing but pitch-black darkness illuminated by the sun was standing inside the exit. Synergy backed up a few steps and rubbed his head, scared. He was frightened of what happened in there. He thought he won that fight, but after losing the Chaos Emerald, he lost a bit of confidence within himself. He stopped backing up again and paused, his hands shaking, his body trembling with anxiety. He didn’t know what to do next. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. He was lost… or so he thought initially. He may not have anything to give to Nocturnus Clan, but he wanted to see if they were still alive. Sonic kept telling him that he defeated them some time ago, but he wasn’t sure if that was true or false. It was at that moment where he decided to head back to the place he came from; the Mystic Ruins.

He ran down a pathway of grass, jumped in the air, and blasted off through the skies, hoping to reunite with his people.

**_END OF CHAPTER 3_ **


	4. Into the Great Wide Open: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Sonic informs Tails and Amy about what happened in Sylvania Castle Zone, Synergy ventures out into the world and ends up making a new friend.

**Into the Great Wide Open: Part 1**

A gentle afternoon breeze flowed through the skies, causing Synergy to feel slightly better about himself about the events that happened not too long ago. He shook his head as he flew through the skies, mentally kicking himself. The logic of letting that Chaos Emerald go instead of taking it for himself was lost to him. He wondered why he didn’t just encounter the sources of those voices like the destructive robot he was created to be.

He placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head again, feeling crestfallen that the emerald that could have benefitted him and his people was still in the Sylvania Castle Zone.

He flew across the skies to get his mind cleared up, hoping to not dwindle on the past and start worrying about the future.

As his jet-boosters pushed him long the azure blue sky, he began to admire the beautiful sun that reflected off his blue colors. He looked at his grassy green hands and shook them a little bit, watching a few drops of mud descend all the way down to the surface below.

He wiped his sky-blue eyes and saw that his hands were dirty, he barely made out the green paint on his palms. As he continued flying, he began to think about his next move.

“Before I head back to my people and suffer my consequences,” he said to himself. “I should probably get cleaned up first.”

The lost Gizoid was about to say something else about his people, but suddenly, he heard a strange noise coming behind him. He jolted his head back, thinking someone was following him, but he saw nothing. He was about to turn his head back to the front direction, but the noise caused him to look back.

The sound of his jet-boosters short-circuiting were one of the many noises in the area. The circuits and wires from behind cracked, blending in with the sound of an alarm. Synergy was about as himself what was wrong until he saw a red screen show up in his system.

The screen read, _“Warning! Warning: Fatal Condition! Repairs Needed!”_

“Well, that’s not good.”

The screen went away. Synergy suddenly went from gliding across the skies to falling down through the clouds, the gentle wind suddenly went at a high velocity, due to how fast he was falling towards the surface.

Spin. Spin. Spin. Synergy started flipping toward while twirling along his side. He knew that as soon as he reached the surface, his landing was going to hurt _badly._

He started screaming at the highest pitch of his voice, as he tried to regain control of himself. He sadly couldn’t do that whatsoever.

To somewhat sooth the soon to be pain he’ll get from landing, he curled up into a ball and wrapped his arms around his body, tucking his legs into his elbows. He almost looked like a ball that was dropped from a really tall height.

He kept spinning and spinning around in the air when he eventually reached the ground, however, the landing wasn’t as severe as he expected it to be.

Instead of landing on the dirt, he landed in something that felt liquid like, something that caught his fall, something that was making him drift down into a beautiful, crystal clear, environment with all sorts of creatures lurking around, eating plants and hiding behind rocks; Synergy has fallen into the water, particularly the fresh water from the Mystic Ruins.

He uncurled from his cannon ball state and looked around the area, watching as fish swam away from him in fear. A red fish and two blue fish. Before they left, they turned around and gave the Gizoid a strange look, gazing at him as if he was a man from outer space.

Synergy awkwardly waved to the fish, receiving no waves back from them. They swam away.

The Gizoid lifted his arms upward and spread out his legs, swimming underneath the deep blue lake. More fish of a variety of colors gave him the same looks as the other fish, they didn’t expect to see a strange land creature swimming in their territory. Synergy chose to ignore the stares because he was focused on one thing; getting himself cleaned up.

He came across a green plant, it was stuck between the rocks on the bottom of the lake.

Synergy swam up to it and ripped it off, he thought he could use it as a towel to clean off this rust and mud with.

Rub. Rub. Scrub. Scrub. He wiped the plant all over his back, but all he did was rip the plant in half. He grunted in silence and let go of the planet, watching it float around him. Just as he went to look for another way to clean himself, a fishing line latched onto his head, getting caught underneath the fin on his head.

“Hmm?” he mumbled, reaching back to see what magically attached to him.

But before he pulled it off, he was roughly tugged back a few feet. He stopped for a quick second before he went backward again. He began to wave his arms around the water, attempting to swim away from the problem. But no matter how fast he swam, the strength of the line overpowered him.

Finally, the line won the battle and started pulling him across the rocks, Synergy bumped his rear end across the rocks as he kept splashing around at a rapid speed. The fishing line suddenly pulled him out of the water and shot him into the air, listening to the screams he was letting out.

The Gizoid crashed onto a boardwalk, landing on his stomach, where he heard the gasp of someone right in front of him.

A fisherman ran up to him and removed the fishing line from his fin.

“You’re the weirdest looking fish I’ve ever seen,”

Synergy grunted because of the fisherman’s lack of an apology. How could the fisherman confuse him for a fish? He didn’t look like a sea creature. And why did he receive an apology from the fisherman?

He raised his head, preparing to say something rude back to the fisherman, but he changed his mind about the comment as soon as the fisherman offered him his hand.

“Wait a second, you’re not a fish.”

The Mobian who mistook the Gizoid for a sea creature was none other than the jolly purple giant; Big the Cat. He was standing in front of the Gizoid with his hand out, wanting to help him get back up on his feet. Synergy looked up and down at the large cat, noticing that he was a lot burly than most Mobians he’s seen in his lifetime. He also took notice that the cat was wearing small sandals that exposed most of his bulky feet.

Synergy gazed into Big’s large yellow eyes, the cat waited for the robot to grab his hand.

“Are you okay?” Big asked the stranger. “Sorry I mistook you for a fish, I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

After hearing the cat’s humble apology, Synergy assumed that Big was a gentle giant, something he’s never come across before. He wrapped his fingers around the cat’s hand, Big pulled him off the ground

He was back on his feet, he humbly bowed and thanked the cat. “Thanks for the assist and I accept your apology. I didn’t realize this territory belonged to you.”

“Yeah, I’ve been living here for a while. It’s pretty nice and cozy here.” Big turned his head to the robot, wanting to know who he is. “Say, what’s your name?”

“My name is CD-2003, but everyone calls me Synergy.”

“Synergy? That name sounds fancy… I like it! Nice to meet you, Synergy!” the cat roughly shook the Gizoid’s hand. “My name’s Big, Big the Cat.”

Big stopped shaking the robot, letting him go. Synergy stumbled around the wooden dock before regaining his balance. “Nice to meet you, Big.”

“Hey, I hope you don’t take offense to this, but you look dirty.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Were you trying to take a bath? I’m sorry I interrupted you,”

Synergy sat down on the dock and slid his body back into the water. “No need for apologies, it’s not your fault. I’m sure if I swim in here long enough, all the rush will flow off me. But do you, by any chance, have any cleaning tools I can borrow?”

“Yes! I can get you a rag and some soap!”

“Great, thanks!”

Big walked back into his cabin to fetch the stranger some soap and a rag. While he was doing that, Synergy laid down in the water, floating on his back. He gazed his eyes into the beautiful afternoon sky, the sun was partly covered by the leaves from the trees. Not only was Synergy underneath a light blue sky, but he was in a perfect shady spot.

He rested his body in the water and let out a sound of relaxation.

“How I missed this,” he said to himself. He continued his moment of peace, hoping that it would last forever. “Welcome home, Synergy… welcome home.”

Froggy, who crawled off Big’s shoulder, hopped on Synergy’s head. He let out a small noise before he stood on the Gizoid’s eyes.

“Would you mind getting off my eyeballs, please?”

* * *

Under normal circumstances, evenings in Emerald Town would be usually be a peaceful shelter for the three Freedom Fighters that live there, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles “Tails” Prower, and Amy Rose. They would often walk around, waving to the town’s residents before they went home for a good night sleep. The blue hedgehog would maintain a silent vigil of the night in case Dr. Eggman stuck his big, pointy nose into the town’s territory, the fox would work on some late-night experiments in his laboratory, and the pink hedgehog would sit at home and dream about being with her crush, Sonic, someday. Emerald Town was a place that these heroes were proud to call home.

However, this evening, the three heroes were in no mood to head to sleep, Well, all except Sonic, who was already fast asleep in a bed, two red and blue blankets were draped over his body, leaving his head and arms exposed.

He was currently resting inside of Tails’ house, where he was kept under the watchful eye of Amy Rose. The owner of the house, Tails, was in the corner of the room, typing on his computer.

Amy let out a low sigh, as she dug her hand underneath Sonic’s cheek, stroking him with a gentle touch. She wished she could have found him sooner before he was trampled with God knows how much weight he was underneath. She was angry that Metal Sonic trapped him under a pile of rocks and stone, and she couldn’t do anything but sit next to the man she loved ever since her childhood days.

When she got down there and saw Metal Sonic laying on the ground, broken and useless, she wished that he was still active so that she could smack him with her hammer. She prayed that Metal Sonic was still active, which sounds like a bad thing to think about, but she wished for him to be alive because she wanted to give the metallic beast a piece of her mind.

But of course, Sonic thrashed Metal Sonic and won, but the hero didn’t make it out of the caverns unharmed. Amy sighed again before she grunted. “Curse you, Metal Sonic!” she said. “When I get my hands on you, you’re going to wish you were never created!”

“Relax, Amy,” Tails replied to her threat. He turned his chair around and got up from his soft, pillow-like, seat. He walked up to Amy and placed his white glove on her shoulder. “Like I said a while ago, Sonic’s fine. He just needs some rest.”

“But aren’t you worried about him!? Metal Sonic hurt him!”

“Of course, I’m worried! He’s my best friend… but something tells me Metal Sonic didn’t cause that accident.”

“What do you mean?” Amy raised an eyebrow, she was confused.

“Before we left, I saw some weird footprints in the mud, I don’t know how to describe their shape, but they were weird looking. I have a strong inference that someone was down there with Sonic and Metal.”

“If that’s the case, who could it be?”

“I’m not sure.”

Sonic suddenly lifted one eyelid up and moaned, causing the fox and the female hedgehog to turn around. Amy slowly gasped in excitement as soon as she saw her boyfriend move an inch upward, Tails wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead.

“Hey, guys,” Sonic smirked, he felt pain in his body as soon as he moved. “Long time no see,”

“Sonic!” Amy stamped her body on top of Sonic’s chest, pulling him close. “You’re okay!”

“Ow! Easy, Amy!”

Amy released the hedgehog as soon as she heard him wince. “Sorry, does it hurt?”

“Ha-ha… it only hurts when I move or talk… or think.”

“Sonic, this is serious! You could have been killed!”

Tails gently sat next to Amy and patted her shoulder. “What Amy means to say is, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. That guy put up a good fight, I’ll give him that. He’s one tough little sucker.” Sonic suddenly gasped as soon as he remembered that Synergy, the Gizoid he fought against in the caves, discovered a Chaos Emerald inside Metal Sonic’s body. “The Chaos Emerald! He has it!”

“Metal Sonic? No, he doesn’t. We took it from him,” Tails smiled, attempting to calm Sonic’s nerves down. “We gave it to Mighty and Ray for safe-keeping. Speaking of them, they went back home after the fight. I promised to tell them when you were awake. I should probably do that right now.” he got up from his seat and walked to his computer, picking up his Miles Electric from his desk. As he jotted down a message to Mighty and Ray, Sonic asked another question.

“What about Cream and Cheese? Are they okay?” he asked.

“G-merl took Cream and Cheese back home,” Amy replied, she got an ice pack from Tails’ mini-freezer and placed it on Sonic’s head. “They left as soon as we entered the temple.”

“What about Synergy, did you catch him?”

Amy stopped smiling and looked at her crush, befuddled. Synergy? Who was he talking about? She looked at Tails, who heard that strange name as well. The two of them shared an addled glance before turning their heads back to Sonic.

“Who?” Amy asked.

Sonic leaned up, he let out a light cough. “That blue and green Gizoid that was down there? You caught him, right?”

“Sonic, you must have hit your head really hard,” Amy pressed her hand against Sonic’s head. She noticed that his head was almost warm. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she held up three fingers.

“Three, Amy, and you guys didn’t see him? There was a Gizoid down there!”

“A Gizoid?” Tails raised an eyebrow. “Like the same robot type G-merl is?”

“Yeah!”

“Wait a minute, you saw an actual, real-working Gizoid in that tomb!?”

“Finally, we’re on the same page!”

“Step backward for a minute, what happened when you and Eggman got trapped?”

Sonic scratched the back of his head, his moaned when he moved his shoulder. “Well, it’s a long story, guys. Some strange Gizoid, who bears a resemblance to Emerl, woke up from a long slumber thanks to Metal Sonic’s Maximum Overdrive thingamajigger. He mentioned something about taking over the world, so I reluctantly teamed up with Metal Sonic to take him down. To no one’s surprise, Metal wanted to take him back to Eggface, so he could be used for his new scheme of the week. Then Synergy yanked a Chaos Emerald out of Metal Sonic’s chest, I was able to get it back before he buried me in rubble. Then he heard your voices, so he escaped before any of you got here. So that’s what happened, basically.”

Tails and Amy stared at Sonic awkwardly. How would they respond to that? A Gizoid that looked like Emerl was roaming around Mobius, possibly planning his next move in his quest for world domination. The two of them shared the same looks they gave to Sonic before their jaws dropped down to the carpet. Sonic shook his head at the sight of his friends’ eyes, he knew they would have this kind of reaction.

But the two-tailed fox wasn’t totally convinced. He didn’t think his best friend was telling a lie, but he wanted to know more information about this robot. “What does Synergy look like?” he asked. “You said he looked like Emerl?”

“Yes, he looks like Emerl, but that little shark fin on his head was a bit different compared to Emerl’s.”

“Did he have the same powers as Emerl?”

“Yes… sort of… during the fight, he dove into the water and came back, looking like one of Chaos’ super forms or something.”

“Okay, so he’s a Gizoid who not only looks like Emerl, but he has the biodata of Chaos… yeah, he’s a threat.”

“Exactly!” Sonic waved his hands in the air and plopped them down on the bed. “Which is why _I_ need to go out there and stop him!” he tried to get up, but the pain in his chest prevented him from getting off the bed. “Ow!”

“Sonic, you need to rest,” Amy said, she gently pushed Sonic’s head down on the pillow. She then laid the blankets on his body.

“I don’t need rest! There’s a dangerous robot out there and I need to stop him!”

“I know you do, but you need some rest!”

“Rest is for slow-pokes, and I ain’t no slowpoke! I need to get back out and show Synergy what I’m really made of-!”

Just at that moment, Tails’ blood boiled to its highest temperature, allowing him to do something he would never do; snap. “ _You’re not going anywhere! You were already caught off guard once, I’m not going to let that happen to you again!”_

A moment of silence fell into the room, Sonic and Amy gasped and turned their heads to Tails. Never before have they ever seen him explode like that before. The fox panted a few more breaths before he realized the stares his friends were giving to him. He widened his eyes and took a few steps back, appalled that he had the nerve to say something like that in an angry tone, especially in front of Sonic.

He opened the door behind him and ran outside.

Amy and Sonic heard the door slam shut, they knew something was wrong with Tails, but they didn’t know what. The latter was going to figure out the answer, as he stepped off the bed and began heading towards the door. Before he placed his hand on the doorknob, Amy stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

“Sonic, don’t do what I think you’re going to do,” she pleaded with a gentle voice.

“Relax, Amy,” Sonic replied. “I’m not… I’m just going to talk to him.”

The blue hedgehog pulled away from Amy and opened the door. As soon as he stepped outside, the evening sun glared into his emerald green eyes. He shielded himself from the blazing sunlight and found Tails sitting by the sidewalk, his hands were cupped over his face and his knees were up to his elbows.

It was clear he felt horrible for treating his brother in the way he did.

Sonic slowly limped over to him and sat down next to him. Tails removed his face from his hands and let out a low sigh, he quickly turned away, embarrassed to look at his brother after the way he acted towards him.

“If you came out here to yell at me, go ahead,” Tails sighed.

“Tails, if I wanted to yell, I would say something that would change this story’s rating,” Sonic chuckled. “But seriously, what’s wrong? I know that wasn’t you back there. What happened?”

Tails faced his brother and told him the truth. “Ever since the Phantom Ruby War, I’ve been worried about you. Infinite and those Phantom Clones caught you off guard, I was scared and useless during that entire war!... hearing you talk about Synergy defeating you brought back memories about that day, the day I lost you… I don’t want that to happen again.”

Sonic wrapped his arm around Tails’ shoulder, pulling him close for a one-armed hug.

Tails wrapped his arms around Sonic’s body, hugging him close. “I’m sorry, Sonic, I shouldn’t have shouted at you like that.”

Sonic patted his brother’s shoulder and rubbed his head. “Tails, listen… we’ve had a few close calls, but we’ve out of them fine in the end, right?”

Tails sniffed, smiling. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I know Synergy’s on my mind right now, but I’ll be careful when I see him next time… I promise.”

Tails smiled and hugged his brother one last time before letting him go. “Okay, thanks, Sonic.”

“If you’re so worried, you can always come with me.”

Tails raised his head, pointing his face towards Sonic’s green eyes. “Yeah! Just like old times!”

“Exactly! First thing in the morning, we’ll go out and look for Synergy! Just you and me!”

“Ha-ha! I would love that!”

After sharing another moment of silence, Sonic and Tails got up on their feet and started walking back to the house. The two brothers have rekindled and were ready for a night’s long sleep.

The sun was starting to set, and the moon began to rise.

* * *

In the southern-hemisphere of Mobius lied an urban metropolis and a melting pot of diverse folk and ideas, where those who dream of making it big gather. This area was known as Empire City, a peaceful home of many people who wish to express their political, social, and economic ideas. This area is the resting place and headquarters of Honey Clothing, owned by an energetic saleswoman named Honey the Cat. She was sitting on her office, waiting for Knuckles the Echidna to come and approve of the new Resistance clothing line she’s set up to support their efforts on reconstructing Mobius. She tapped her boots against the ground and she twirled her black ponytails.

She glanced at her silver watch and waited for the commander of the Resistance to show up to her office. She turned over her shoulder and looked out her window, the moon rose high above the city. The bright lights that shined from the buildings illuminated the darkness, making the city more beautiful. Honey let out a low sigh, as she watched the moon and the stars in the sky. They were beautiful. She saw her reflection through the window, it was looking back at her. The stars and moon shined back at her, telling her that Knuckles will show up soon. She felt guilty for calling the meeting at such a late timeslot, but due to her busy schedule, she figured this was the only time this could work. She straightened her hair out and adjusted her red dress, praying that this sales meeting goes well.

Within a few minutes, the door opened with a whooshing sound. Knuckles the Echidna walked though the door, guided by a female Manx with brown fur and cream skin. Her attire included larged sneakers, a tight tube top, and tight jeans. This left her belly bare, revealing a small belly button. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail. She walked Knuckles to Honey. “Ms. Cat,” she said politely. “Here is Knuckles the Echidna,”

“R-really!?” Honey turned away from the window. She screamed in excitement and ran over to Knuckles.

The echidna stuck out his hand for a hand-shake. “Hi, Honey, it’s nice to meet- _Ah!_ ”

The bright yellow cat ignored his hand-shake and hugged him tightly, almost to the point where Knuckles heard his own lungs crack. Honey giggled and pulled him closer.

“Okay… would you mind letting me go, please? I don’t do hugs.”

Honey freed Knuckles from his uncomfortable moment, as the cat giggled in an apologetic fashion. “Sorry!” she cleared her throat. “That’ll be all, Ms. Tiara Boobowski. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, boss,” Tiara the Manx walked back to the elevator and closed the door. A small ringing indicated she went back downstairs.

“My apologies, Commander,” said Honey. She walked behind her desk and poured herself two cups of iced tea. She gave one to herself and another one to Knuckles. The Commander drank from his cup. “I always get excited when I meet celebrities.”

“I never considered myself a celebrity, but I appreciate your enthusiasm,” said Knuckles. He placed his drink down and wiped his mouth. “So, what did you want to talk to me about? You said something about a Resistance Fashion line?”

Honey quickly placed down her drink after her last sip. She wiped her mouth and nodded her head. “Yes! I’ve been designing clothes that’ll get people to support the Resistance’s Reconstruction Plan. Come, I’ll show you what they look like!”

The overexcited cat grabbed the echidna’s hands and dragged him over to the left side of the room. From there, she led to a gallery room that was filled with a bunch of manikins. All the manikins were modeling the clothes that Honey and her company designed for the Resistance clothing series. Honey dragged Knuckles down the gallery, the latter admired many of the rich silk textures that were placed on the models. There were black hoodies with the Resistance star in the center, various colored hats that said the word, _“Gamer.”_ There were also three types of colored sweat pants; red, blue, and black, they have red and stripes running down the right pant leg, a Resistance logo was seen striking down the leg.

But if there were a few things that caught the commander’s purple eyes, they were the T-shirts.

There were a few multi-colored shirts that read, _“I’m with the Resistance”_ on the front, and on the back, they said, _“Do you know where the Computer Room is?”_

Knuckles cringed at some of these lines, probably because he didn’t care a whole lot about fashion as much as people like Amy Rose. He was about to tell Honey his thoughts about the clothes until she came up to him with a bright green with words written in purple colors, printed in a bold font.

The line read, _“I survived Operation: Big Wave.”_

“Wow, as if I needed a reminder of that day,” Knuckles whispered to himself.

“What do you think of these, Commander? Here, why don’t you try some on!”

“No, no, that’s okay. I’m good- _Whoa!_ ”

Honey grabbed Knuckles’ hand again and dragged him to a mirror that sat at the end of the gallery. She placed him right in front of the object, as she reached behind her and picked through the hoodies she had on display. She found the black one with the Resistance logo on it, and she forcefully placed on the echidna’s body. Put the hood up. And allowed him to check himself out.

“I don’t think this is a good look for me.” Knuckles said.

“That’s because you don’t have the glasses, silly goose,” Honey the Cat giggled. She grabbed a pair of black sunglasses and placed them on Knuckles’ eyes. “There, what do you think?” she gave him a smirk.

“I look like I’m about to rob a bank,” Knuckles replied. He took off his hoodie and his glasses, putting them on a table of clothes next to them. “Listen, Honey… don’t take this the wrong way, but I think you asked the wrong person to look at this stuff.”

As soon as Knuckles said that, Honey gave him a frown. “You don’t like it?”

“No, no,” Knuckles motioned to her, not wanting her to think he hated the clothing. “I just think you asked the wrong person to check this out. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a guy. So, stereotypically, I’m not into this type of stuff. Though, I may be able to get Amy to help- “

Ring. Ring. Ring. Knuckles’ wrist communicator went off.

He looked down at his right wrist and saw that he was getting a call from his second in command; Amy Rose.

“Speak of the devil,” he said. “Do you mind if I take this?”

“Oh, oh, not a problem! Go!” Honey nodded her head.

Knuckles walked out of the gallery and headed straight for the closet. He opened the door and closed it shut, wanting some privacy for his call.

He pressed on his communicator and answered Amy’s call. “What’s up, Amy?”

“Hey, Knuckles, I need to talk to you for a sec… why are you in a closet?”

“I’m playing Honey’s fashion model, what did you want to talk about?”

Amy let out a stressed-out sigh before she replied to Knuckles’ query. “We were pursuing Eggman when he and Sonic got trapped in an ancient temple. Sonic and Metal Sonic were fighting when they suddenly encountered a strange Gizoid named Synergy, who has his own agendas to take over the world. He’s says he was created by the Nocturnus Clan.”

“ ** _What!?_** ” Knuckles yelped at the top of his lungs, unaware that he scared the living hell out of Honey the Cat. “How is It possible there’s a surviving Gizoid from the Nocturnus Clan that’s still active!? I thought we wiped out every single Gizoid the Nocturnus Clan had, when we took down Imperator Ix.”

“Apparently, Synergy was there for over 4,000 years and he doesn’t even know it. He thinks that Ix and his people are still alive.”

“Something tells me he’s going to be mad when he finds out the truth; they’re all dead.”

“Exactly. Tails has a plan to capture Synergy, but he’s asleep right now. Him and Sonic are planning on heading to the Mystic Ruins tomorrow morning.”

“Makes sense, The Knuckles and Nocturnus Clans settled there a millennial ago. Tell them, I’ll meet up with them tomorrow. And Amy, before you go, I have a mission for you.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to gather the Resistance back together. Something tells me we’re going to need them.”

“You got it, Commander,” Amy gave the echidna a smile and a wink, both followed by a thumbs up. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Knuckles. Have a good night.”

“Likewise, Amy,” Knuckles nodded. He waved goodbye before hanging up the call. Prior to going back out there to talk to Honey, he decided to call that unknown caller that he’s been trying to talk to ever since the Phantom Ruby War ended. He scrolled down to their icon and pressed it. Getting the same message as he did earlier today. He rolled his eyes and talked into the microphone.

“Hey, it’s me again,” he said. “We need to talk.”

**_END OF CHAPTER 4_ **


	5. Into the Great Wide Open: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> G-merl experiences a terrifying moment from his past, one that concerns him about the safety of Cream. Big teaches Synergy a new trick, and Sonic and Tails discover something odd about the Mystic Ruins.

**Into the Great Wide Open: Part 2**

Somewhere, right beside Night Carnival Zone, sat a humble cottage. Inside the house, Cream the Rabbit, Cheese, and their best friend, G-merl were sitting on the couch. All three of them were in the middle of watching a movie about an ogre and a donkey teaming up together in order to save a princess from a fire breathing dragon. Quite a strange movie for someone as innocent as Cream to be watching, but she was a sucker for some classic computer animated movies.

She and G-merl laughed at the movie together, cracking up at the donkey’s constant jokes and the ogre’s reactions to them. Cheese let out a loud yawn before he laughed at the movie.

“Are you getting tired, Cheese?” Cream said softly, wrapping her hand around Cheese. The Chao cuddled beside the rabbit’s lap. “Don’t worry, the movie’s almost over. I’ll tuck you into bed soon… you know, G-merl, I’ve seen this movie with you many times, but I’ve never understood its message. What do you think it means?”

The black and yellow Gizoid turned his head towards Cream, gazing his blue eyes into her brown pupils. “Well, you see, Cream. I think this movie is trying to teach us about the wrongfulness about judging people by their appearances. Everyone looks at this ogre and calls him a monster because of the way he looks, but really, they miss the fact that he’s a nice person underneath his green skin. Yeah, he wants to be left alone for most of the movie, but once he meets the princess, he starts to learn that he can be loved after all, no matter what he looks like.”

Cream nodded her head, understanding the moral of the story. “Do people judge others by their appearances a lot?”

G-merl nodded his head slowly, giving her a sad response. “Unfortunately, yes… they do. I walk around and see people look at me as if I was an Eggman robot, which I was at one point if you remember,” he leaned back on the couch and folded his arms. “They all turn to me and run away.”

“You _used_ to be an evil robot, but you’ve been working so hard to prove you’re trustworthy,” Cream said softly. She placed her hand on G-merl’s. “I don’t view you as a mean person, in fact, next to Miss Amy and Miss Blaze, you’re one of my best friends. It’ll take time for people to forgive you, but I know you’re not a bad robot.”

At that moment, Cream pulled her Gizoid friend into a hug.

G-merl kindly returned his kindness by hugging her back. “Thanks, kiddo. You’ve always been so nice to me.”

“I love you, G-merl.”

“I love you too, kiddo.”

Just then, Cream’s mother, Vanilla walked into the room and saw the tired expression on her child’s face. She tenderly turned off the TV and picked up her daughter. “It’s time for bed, honey.”

“Are you sure, Mommy?” Cream yawned. “I’m not tired.”

“Nice try, sweetie,” Vanilla chuckled. “It’s time to go to bed. That goes for you too, G-merl dear.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” G-merl kindly nodded. He followed Cream, Cheese, and Vanilla all the way up to Cream’s room. They opened the door and sat down beside Cream’s bed. The humble mother tucked her underneath her purple covers and kissed her forehead, Cheese sat down on top of her best friend’s head. G-merl placed himself in the corner; preparing to enter his Sleep Mode. “Goodnight, Ma’am.”

“Goodnight, Mother,” Cream smiled.

“Chao, chao!” Cheese smiled.

“Goodnight, you three,” Vanilla shut the light off, exiting the room.

G-merl activated his sleep mode. Cream and Cheese closed their eyelids.

Like Sonic, Tails, and Amy, they were ready for a good night’s sleep.

Unfortunately for G-merl… something was about to disturb him from his slumber.

 _“Is it ready?”_ a voice in his head said.

 _“Yes, sir. Project: Synergy is almost complete.”_ said the other voice.

 _What?_ G-merl said in his thoughts. _Project… Synergy?_

_“Excellent… once Project: Synergy is done, We, the Nocturnus Clan shall conquer this world.”_

_What? Nocturnus Clan?... No, it can’t be._

* * *

_Scrub a dub dub in the tub._ Synergy chuckled to himself, as he washed most of the rust that has been on his body for hundreds of years, using the wash cloth that was kindly lent to him by Big the Cat.

Speaking of which, a gentle morning breeze flowed through the swamp of the Mystic Ruins, which caused Big and Froggy to wake up from yet another easy slumber. They looked out the window of their house and saw the Gizoid taking a bath in their pool. They noticed that he was close to being finished with cleaning himself. Big stretched his arms and yawned as loud as a lion’s roar, Froggy had to cover his head with his front limbs every time he heard that.

Scratching his rear end, the chubby cat grabbed his fishing pole and his box of bait, walking out the door and greeting the Gizoid with a kind gesture. “Morning, Synergy,”

“Morning, Big,” Synergy nodded, washing himself from head to toe. “I’m almost done with your wash cloth. I’ll give it back to you in a few.”

“No worries,” Big smiled. He placed a worm on the tip of his fishing hook and pulled the rod back. Swinging it forward caused it to land softly into the water. Synergy noticed this and titled his head to the side. What was Big doing?

The robot stepped out of the water he was bathing in all through last night and scrubbed his chest plate; the last thing he needed to get clean. Scrub. Scrub. Wash. Wash. Synergy was able to clean his entire body thanks to the fresh water from the pool, and Big’s wash cloth. He looked down at his body, relieved that he was able to look at his true colors again.

He was a light blue-colored Gizoid with a few dark blue features; his shoulders, feet, and wrists. The only light green parts of his body were his four-plated fin, his arms, and his wrists. Dark blue eyes gave him the ability to see and his chest plate was colored to match his arms and hands. Instead of being partly brown due to all the rust he had, he was back to his usual self.

“How do I look?” Synergy said to the cat, right before he took notice of what he was doing. He watched as the cat reeled in a fish that latched its jaw onto the bait. The cat took the creature off of his hook and tossed it in the bucket. Synergy walked over to the bucket, seeing the helpless little fish flop all around the bucket’s walls. “What are you doing?”

“Fishing!” Big replied with a smile. “It’s one of my favorite things to do. Do you like fishing?”

“I’ve seen my people do it, but I’ve never done it myself.”

“Really?” Big said with a frown. How can one go through life without learning how to fish? “Come here, I’ll show you, it’s fun. It’s a great stress reliever.”

“Well, I did have a stressful day yesterday, so why not?”

Synergy walked onto the boardwalk and stood next to the purple cat. The latter handed the former his fishing rod, watching him analyze its features. The Gizoid gripped the lower end of the rod with the both of his hands, confused on how to hold the object. He squatted his legs apart and pulled his arm back, the line and hook draped across the wooden ground. Big raised an eyebrow, confused.

The robot flung his arms forward and accidentally chucked the entire rod a few feet away from him and Big. It would have been a pretty good throw if he was playing a sport like football or baseball, but sadly, that wasn't the case. Big jumped into the water and grabbed his rod, climbing back up to the boardwalk.

“Dang it!” Synergy kicked the ground in distrust. “I screwed it up!”

“That’s all right,” Big smiled. “No worries.”

“No, it’s not alright. How could I fail such a simple task!?” Synergy suddenly picked up a random log, beating it against his head. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Big said, he gently grabbed the log and chucked it over his shoulder.

“ _Hey!_ ” Synergy snarled, reaching his hands out. “Give me back my beating log!”

“You shouldn’t do something like that,” Big said. “You could hurt yourself.”

Synergy was about to shout and yell at the cat for refusing to give the log back, but after a few seconds of thought, he kept his voice box shut. He took a minute to relax before explaining his actions to Big. “I apologize for my actions. Where I come from, if one was to fail a task from our leader, a punishment was required. That’s why I was beating myself with a log.”

Big’s ears drooped down to his face. No one should deserve such harsh punishment. He wrapped his arm around the robot’s shoulder and spoke to him, “That kind of punishment doesn’t do any good,” he told the robot. “It’s okay to fail at some things in life. No one is perfect. Hurting yourself won’t accomplish anything, it’ll make the ones who care about you worry about your health, becoming concerned in the process.”

Synergy’s eyes pointed at Big’s yellow pupils. The robot smiled on the inside.

“I may not know where you came from, but I think you’re a nice person, and that’s all that matters.” Big continued talking. “Even if you’re not perfect.”

 _Wow… just wow._ Synergy thought to himself, flabbergasted. _Never in my entire life have I ever heard someone be so concerned with my health before. Back then, if you were injured, you were told to walk it off. No one ever came over to heal you back to health nor would they encourage you to get back up. For the record, it takes a while to get used to, but that was life back in the Nocturnus Clan. I have never heard a kind soul like this one be so worried about my health… hmm… perhaps I could convince him to join the Nocturnus Clan once I find them. But for now, I want to apologize for my actions as well as learn how to fish._

Taking a deep breath helped calm down Synergy’s nerves, as the Gizoid placed a hand on Big’s shoulder. “I can promise you, if I fail at doing something next time, I won’t beat myself with a again,” Synergy replied. “I didn’t mean to make you worry about me. I apologize for my actions.”

“Apology accepted!” Big smiled, shaking Synergy’s hand. He then motioned a _“Come here”_ signal to him. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to fish! I know a trick that’ll make it easier for you. It’s a trick that’s been passed down from Big to Big to Big! We call it… _The Astonishing Toss!_ ”

Synergy jerked his head to the side, confused. “The Astonishing what?”

“The Astonishing Toss! Here, let me show you,” Big placed his feet in the water and walked a few feet into the shallow pool. Synergy followed behind until the two of them stopped, they were standing in the border that separated the deep end from the shallow end. “Watch carefully,”

Big waved his arms calmly, trying to loosen his muscles. “You gotta be loose,”

He placed his arms against the crystal-clear water. “Relaxed… with your feet apart.”

Big then flung the fishing rod forward, “Then, ten-o'clock!”

He tossed it backwards, “Two-o’clock!”

He began to twirl the fishing rod around him as if it was a bo-staff, “Quarter to three! Tour jete! Twist, over, pas de deux, I’m a little teapot, and the windup!” The fishing line shot far behind the cat, extending to limits it has never reached before. The line went so far, it was able to fling over the tallest trees into the Mystic Ruins. Turning his eyes towards the fishing line, Synergy was curious to see how far it could go.

“And let her fly!” Big shouted.

In the blink of an eye, the fishing rod came back to Big, this time, it flung across the lake. Bypassing all of the trees.

“The Astonishing Toss!” Big smiled, Synergy stroked his chin; clearly impressed.

A file of data named “The Astonishing Toss” was pasted into Synergy’s systems; he copied the move to his Skill List.

“Here, would you like to reel the fish in if you catch one?” Big asked, offering the fishing rod to Synergy.

“Sure,” Synergy tenderly took the rod from Big’s hands. Holding it firmly in his hands, he took a step forward and waited for a fish to come to him.

To his surprise, it didn’t take long for the rod to tug him forward; something latched onto the hook.

“Wow, already!?” Synergy asked. He pulled on the rod. “That was fast!”

“Come on, Synergy! Reel it in!” Big cheered for his new friend. “You can do it! Reel it in, reel it in!”

“I’m trying!”

Synergy pulled on the rod, trying to catch whatever was on the other side. But as he tried, something pulled him forward. Whatever was on the other side of that line didn’t want to be captured. The Gizoid pulled the rod towards him again, but the line tugged him in the front direction. He almost tripped and fell into the water. Thankfully, his strength and determination to catch the fish kept him going. He wasn’t going to give up on this fish.

“You can do it, Synergy! Just pull!” Big called.

Synergy tugged, pulled, and yanked the fishing rod towards him.

Splash. Splash. Splash. Something came out of the water.

Big and Synergy gasped, as the latter reeled in whatever was on the other side. The two friends finally got to see what it was.

It was a fish that was no bigger than someone’s pinky finger; possibly the smallest fish in the entire lake.

However, that didn’t matter to someone like Synergy. All he did was look at the fish with the uttermost glee in his eyes. One might say that he could have done better, but since he was a war Gizoid who never had any time to kick back and catch fish, he felt happy to discover a new hobby. As with Big, he couldn’t be any prouder.

“You did it, Synergy!” Big cheered, hugging the Gizoid tightly. “You caught your very first fish!”

“Y-yeah! Yeah, I did!” Synergy said in a happy tone. “Hey, Big… can we do this again?”

Big smiled as his reply to Synergy’s question. Finally, somebody to fish with him. He might have just found a brand-new best friend.

* * *

Somewhere over the Mystic Ruins, Sonic the Hedgehog and his best friend; Miles “Tails” Prower, were flying over the skies using Tails’ iconic invention; The Tornado. The two of them were on a hot pursuit for Synergy after the hedgehog told the fox about him last night. Sonic and Tails have decided to travel to the Mystic Ruins together because they wanted to spend time together as brothers, and they figured that since Synergy was built in the Mystic Ruins by the Nocturnus Clan, this would be the first place he would go. Amy, despite wanting to capture Synergy, was told by Knuckles that she needed to gather the rest of the Resistance back together again. So, she didn’t bother going with Sonic and Tails on their search. Joining forces, the two of them took the Tornado down to the forest.

The wind blew against thee blue blur’s fur, giving him a nice gentle breeze on a cold autumn day.

Tails felt the cold air brush against him as well, he closed his eyes and sniffed the freezing oxygen in the air. The sun shined down on the Tornado and the clouds were scarce.

Both brothers got a nice view of the sky; the sky that was as blue as the fastest thing alive.

“How do you feel up there, Sonic?” Tails said from the driver’s seat. He watched his brother, who was sitting on the front propeller, turn to him. Giving a thumbs up followed by a wink.

“Not too shabby,” Sonic smiled. “Have you heard anything from Knuckles or Amy?”

“Knuckles says he’s on his way, Amy told me Mighty and Ray came back to help us out. They’re just about to look for the Chaotix in Blue Ridge.” Tails typed on his Miles Electric, getting a topographical view of the Mystic Ruins below.

“Any sign of Synergy?”

“I’m accessing the satellite tower by my workshop, it should scan the area and tell me where he is.”

“I hope Knuckles can get the Resistance back together soon, we’re gonna need all of them if we wanna take down this Emerl wannabe!”

“Speaking of Emerl, do you think we should call G-merl in for this? He is built from Emerl’s data and he is a Gizoid. Plus, he’s our friend. He should know about this.”

“G-merl could be useful for this fight, however, I’m afraid Cream might get involved. You know how close she was to Emerl. She really got upset when he turned evil. I don’t want her to get Ultimate Emerl flashbacks.”

“You have a point. Still, I think G-merl could help us out… what the fudge?”

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s that over there?”

Sonic turned his head over his shoulder, seeing the exact same thing Tails pointed at. The two of them were looking at a castle like tower beyond the clouds, a structure that looked cheaply made from limestone and brick. Not only that, but there was a sign on the side of the tower, a large banner with a picture of two skunks giving a thumbs up. One was a blue skunk and the other was a whitish/greyish skunk. Below their poses was a caption that said, _“Rough and Tumble: Kings of the Mystic, Baby!”_

Tails and Sonic shared a glance before making a left turn with the Tornado. Why was there a building in such a forest-heavy place like the Mystic Ruins? And better yet, who were Rough and Tumble?

The two brothers shared confused faces again.

“Rough and Tumble?” Sonic stroked his chin. “Sounds like names you’d hear in a circus.”

“Something’s not right,” Tails said. “Construction in the Mystic Ruins? We better go see what’s wrong.”

“As much as I want to take down Synergy, the environment comes first. Let’s do it to it, Tails!”

Tails turned the steering wheel and aimed the Tornado towards the ground. He and Sonic were heading off to investigate what was going on with the large tower.

  ** _END OF CHAPTER 5_**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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